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Salient. Official Newspaper of Victoria University of Wellington Students Association. Vol 40 No. 23. September 12 1977

Death Penalty for Abortions

Death Penalty for Abortions.

Abortion was considered a heinous crime and those found guilty could be liable to prison sentences. In 1943 the death penalty was introduced for those found guilty of performing abortions. Birth control centres, the availability of contraceptives, and contraceptive advice were also restricted. There was a legal ban on the public advertisement of contraceptives, and in 1933 the birth control groups were outlawed, so that those most in need of help had only a limited chance of obtaining such aid. On the other hand, Nazi theories about race and heredity suggested that in certain cases i.e. the ill, the unsuitable, those who had hereditary defects, or were politically undesirable or non-Aryan, birth control should be positively encouraged.