While reading the book, I could not help but think about how women in Romania also suffered during communism, particularly because of the regime’s emphasis on large families and population growth.

During the communist period it was illegal to use contraception or stop a pregnancy. In 1966 Nicolae Ceausescu introduced one of the harshest pronatalist policies in the world with Decree 770. The decree banned and made illegal stopping a pregnancy, eliminated access to contraception and framed reproduction as a duty to the state.