However, on July 29, 1939, a month before the invasion of Poland, the criminal penalties for abortion were increased. Economic deprivation, food shortages, and the separation of a large number of married couples (1.9 million French prisoners of war interned in Germany) led to pregnancies - out of wedlock or not - becoming fewer, but there was a greater demand for abortions, frequently for the victims of forced relationships with the occupying force. Therefore, the Law of February 15, 1942, made abortion a crime against state security, punishable by the death penalty. The law was repealed after the Libération.