"In 1933, when the Nazi’s came to power, the law was changed to legalize abortion and make this a matter of decision for a medical review board. The development of Germany’s abortion policy was left to the county’s most vociferous abortion advocacy group, the Berlin Chamber of Physicians. This group, which advocated abortion on demand, determined that “The health of the mother – considered from all angles – is the decisive factor.” Then, just as now, health of the mother criterion was loosely understood to mean any economic or psychological affect on the woman’s total well being.
There were approximately 500,000 abortions annually in Germany under the Third Reich, a country of 60 to 70 million people. And, in Nazi Germany, racial stock was considered an aspect of the health of the mother. If she was from an “unhealthy” race, such as Polish, Czech or Jewish, then she was often forced to have an abortion against her will. However, race wasn’t the only consideration. Hitler actively promoted the destruction of the crippled, poor and unemployed classes, as did Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood. Abortion led to forced sterilization, which led to “euthanasia,” which led to Auschwitz."