This bulletin reviews recent fertility-related trends in the nine Eastern European socialist countries where official policy is explicitly pronatalist to varying degrees in all but Yugoslavia. That fertility was generally higher here than in Western Europe in the mid-1970s is credited to pronatalist measures undertaken when fertility fell below replacement level after abortion was liberalized in all but Albania, following the 1955 lead of the USSR. Fertility did rise where access to abortion was again restricted and/or economic incentives such as paid maternity leave were substantially increased. However, subsequent declines in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Romania suggest that policy-induced upturns in fertility are short-lived. Couples quickly adjust to abortion restrictions by practicing more efficient contraception or resorting to illegal abortion. It is evident that the region's low birth rates are still achieved mainly with abortion. Although cash incentives appear to have advanced the timing of first and second births, the incentives need to be increased regularly. With the world's highest female employment rates, Eastern European women are unlikely to increase their fertility so long as men are reluctant to share domestic tasks. (Author/NE)