As well as promoting motherhood, the Nazis also restricted abortion and contraception. During the 1920s Germany led the world in the development of contraceptive devices, including condoms, diaphragms and intra-uterine devices (IUDs). But the Nazis outlawed contraception – not only to increase the birthrate but also because many pioneers of contraceptive medicine were Jewish. Even publicising or discussing birth control was eventually banned in Nazi Germany. The regime also cracked down on abortion, imposing tough requirements for pregnancy terminations on medical grounds and harsh penalties for illegal abortions. Propaganda described abortion as a “crime against the body and against the state”.

Conversely, doctors would approve abortions – and indeed, even encourage them – if the patient happened to be non-Aryan. In November 1938 a Nazi-run state court ruled that abortion should be legal and freely available for all Jewish women.