discussed in Germany during the early 20th century. During the Weimar Republic, such discussion led to a reduction in the maximum penalty for abortion, and in 1926 a court's decision – similar to the United Kingdom decision R v Bourne – decriminalized abortion in cases of grave danger to the life of the mother. Nazi era Nazi Germany's eugenics laws severely punished abortion for Aryan women, but permitted abortion on wider and more explicit grounds than before if the fetus was believed to be deformed or disabled or if termination otherwise was deemed desirable on eugenic grounds, such as the child or either parent suspected of being carrier of a genetic disease. Sterilization of the parents also took place in some such cases. In cases where the parents were Jewish, abortion was also not punished. Abortions were criminalized under Paragraph 218 of the German Criminal Code. The severest abortion prohibitions were incorporated into law on 9 March 1943. Subparagraph 5 to paragraph 218 stated that "a woman who kills her fetus or permits such a killing by another will be punished by a prison sentence and, in especially serious cases, by penitentiary. An attempt is punishable. Whoever else kills the fetus of a pregnant woman will be punished by a penitentiary sentence, in milder cases by prison. If the perpetrator through such deeds continuously impairs the vitality of the German Volk, the death penalty can be imposed. Whoever procures for the pregnant woman a means or objects for killing the fetus will be punished by prison sentence, and in especially serious cases, by penitentiary". During World War II, abortion policy in Nazi Germany varied depending on the people group and territory the policy was directed at. The commonality between policies was its purpose in promoting the birth rate and population of the "Aryan race" and minimizing the population of others (such as Slavs), and those deemed a burden on German society such as the children of disabled and mentally ill persons. Forced abortions of Ostarbeiter for instance was referenced in documents from the Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals. It has been categorized as a part of Nazi Germany's "systematic program of genocide, aimed at the destruction of foreign nations and ethnic groups". While abortion had been punished by the law in Poland previously, under Nazi occupation these prohibitions were removed and abortion was instead encouraged subject