Peace Without Poison

Romania began interfering with human fertility in 1950 when the total fertility rate stood at 3.2children per woman and continued to do so until 1962 when fertility had declined to just 2.1children per woman, so-called replacement level fertility.This means that population control measures were first approved and implemented in Romaniaby Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, General Secretary of the Romanian Communist party from 1947until his death in 1965, who undoubtedly followed Soviet directives. By the time Gheorghiu-Dejdied in 1965, the total fertility rate had dropped to 1.9 children per woman.Since contraceptives at that time were unheard of in Romania, the drop in fertility cannot beascribed to them. The historical record shows that from 1959 to 1966 anywhere from 60% to80% of all pregnancies ended in abortion, which would fully explain the drop in fertility but670 | P a g e