Police in the Romanian capital of Bucharest said 2,000 people, including Orthodox priests, took to the streets in an antiabortion rally.
Organizers on March 25 said rallies also took place in some 300 cities and towns in Romania and neighboring Moldova.
Members of antiabortion groups, marching from a park in southern Bucharest, shouted slogans such as "Life!" and carried banners reading “Women deserve better than abortion."
Abortion was banned in Romania during the communist regime of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, who was killed in 1989 after a popular rebellion.
Abortion was legalized in 1990, with as many as 992,000 registered that year -- three times the number of births recorded.
Romania still has one of the highest abortion rates within Europe.
The ProVita Humanitarian Foundation estimates that about 210 abortions are carried out every day in Romania.
Abortions in Romania are legal through the first 14 weeks of a pregnancy.