Zaks riot

The deputies did not want to disgrace themselves and failed the initiative of United Russia member Vitaly Milonov, who proposed giving embryos the rights of a citizen from the moment of their first heartbeat. Milonov himself was ostracized; the politician was called a self-promoter and an ignorant who writes bills under the dictation of clergy. The speaker was unable to answer substantively any questions.

The last meeting became a turning point in the life of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly. Many of whose people's representatives are tired of extravagant fame. Muscovites are already laughing that stupidity is being sprayed over the northern capital - they are expelling spirits from the Mariinsky Palace, they are asking the governor to stop the propaganda of the apocalypse, they are going to fight violent sex at night.
In the morning, technical issues were discussed in the Legislative Assembly, the journalists were frankly bored, and on the approaches of the faction leaders to the press, one question was embryonic.
Milonov, we recall, proposed amending Article 17 of the Constitution and replacing the word “birth” with “the moment of the first heartbeat” in the norm “fundamental human rights and freedoms are inalienable and belong to everyone from birth.”
United Russia members were rather irritated by the proposal of a fellow party member - Speaker Vyacheslav Makarov said that he was categorically against it, because it “does not increase the authority of our Legislative Assembly.” What was happening caused a grin among the communists and Zhirinovites - the leader of the parliamentary Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Dmitriev, called on journalists not to write about the stomping of cats, the end of the world, ghosts and similar “rubbish.”
Laughing contagiously, the leader of the Social Revolutionaries, Alexei Kovalev, only noted that “everyone should speak unhindered, so that everyone’s stupidity is visible.” Milonov did not speak at these moments, but remained silent and nervously, accompanied by his assistants, walked around the Mariinsky Palace.
“If an embryo is a citizen, then oral sex is cannibalism,” Marina Shishkina joked on the sidelines of Socialist Revolutionary. The phrase spread throughout the Internet in a matter of minutes and received hundreds of likes on social networks, demonstrating the absurdity of what was happening.
After the break, Vyacheslav Makarov disappeared somewhere, they say he flew to China for work. The meeting was chaired by Vice Speaker Sergei Andenko. An unusual silence reigned in the hall.
Presenting his brainchild, Milonov was noticeably nervous. He reproached his colleagues for the fact that they do not want to bashfully discuss this issue (“it’s more interesting to discuss a demolished house on which you can promote yourself”), said that since 1991 a similar number of the population of Ukraine was destroyed, complained that “these people cannot ask them don't kill." “All traditional religions say that life begins before the passport appears,” he said. “And it’s politically advantageous for you to allow murders.” Then don’t call yourselves Christians, Muslims, Jews!”
United Russia noted that the five millionth resident in St. Petersburg appeared not because of an increase in the birth rate, but because of immigration.
“If you vote against this law, you are voting for our country to cease to exist. This means you don’t want Russia to get up from its knees,” the politician appealed to patriotic feelings. “You are preserving your old buildings for those who will live here as a result of the new migration of peoples.”
There weren’t many questions for the speaker: are consultations with specialists planned, how to determine the moment of the first heartbeat, and whether it is necessary to introduce criminal liability for masturbation (the hall burst into laughter).
Wide public hearings are planned, Milonov said; he found it difficult to determine the moment of the first heartbeat, saying only that the Lord regularly gives him the opportunity to go with his wife to ultrasounds. With onanism it turned out to be more tricky - the United Russia member was offended by the reaction of the audience and he almost got into a fight with Yabloko member Vyacheslav Notyag.
- Regulations! - came from behind Milonov.
Andenko, a doctor by profession, gave a lecture to a fellow party member on the topic of brain formation, offering to teach materiel. The Deputy Speaker tried to maintain an impartial expression on his face, but it turned out frankly poorly.
- I have a different education... Maybe not as useful as yours. We differ from animals in that we have a soul! - exclaimed the fighter against Madonna and gays. “We allow you to destroy not your body—we’ll die anyway—but your soul!”
The politician, who, by his own admission, does not read the yellow press, spoke about one famous actress raising a child with Down syndrome who “will never go to rallies or write poetry.” “And she’s happy,” he concluded.
Anticipating the “debate,” Andenko allowed himself the remark: “Our Legislative Assembly is one of the best in the country.”
The first to rush into the breach was the former vice-governor, now a deputy from United Russia, Lyudmila Kostkina, who, coming to the podium, sighed loudly:
“I’m ashamed to stand here and discuss this issue.” “I believe that the initiative of deputy Vitaly Milonov is absurd and returns us to ignorance and obscurantism, since it does not contain a single scientifically based fact,” she said and recalled that in global practice the concepts of “embryo” are accepted - up to the 8th week of pregnancy, “fetus” - from 8 to 22 weeks. Until 22 weeks, the body is considered unviable outside the womb.
— How and who will determine the presence of a heartbeat referred to in the bill? Ultrasound doctor or obstetrician-gynecologist? Some people will hear a pulsating contraction as early as 4-5 weeks. But this is not the heart yet,” Kostkina said in complete silence.
United Russia stressed that it is against abortion, but “there are fewer abortions not where it is more difficult to do them, but where there is no need to do them.”
- The problem cannot be solved by a ban! We must create appropriate social conditions for a woman to give birth,” she noted. “I express the hope that the Legislative Assembly will put a barrier in the way of ignorance and attempts at its own PR at the cost of humiliating public opinion!”
Her performance was met with applause. Yabloko activist Maxim Reznik noted that Milonov, with his “stunning” initiatives, opened a Pandora’s box for parliamentarians with no less wild imagination. “Socialist-Revolutionary” Shishkina said that the Legislative Assembly according to Bulgakov was becoming a “bad apartment.”
- Now what, will we have documents about the first heartbeat? Much of the law is based on citing the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which clearly defines the right to a name and nationality from the moment of birth. Which country's constitution should define the embryo? - Shishkina asked questions.
A lecture on history was given to Milonov by the leader of the Yabloko faction, Grigory Yavlinsky. He told the initiator of the bill for a long time and measuredly how much the mortality rate among young women, infanticides, and criminal abortions had increased from 1936 to 1955 (the period of the ban on abortion). “The end does not justify the means. You can’t be Bolsheviks,” he concluded.
Deputy Alexander Kobrinsky suggested that after the ban on abortion, women from St. Petersburg will go to Finland for operations.
— We often turn to the federal government. What will they think about us after the adoption of this law? Like, they’re writing again, those with embryos,” Kovalev continued to laughter.
- This is what parliament can turn into if laws are written under the dictation of clergy. “We are turning into a farce,” communist Irina Komolova began and received a reprimand from the vice speaker for impropriety. — In the USSR, they ensured the right to medical care, housing, work, and a good education. Is this available today? No! I hear typical hypocrisy. No mother will agree to an abortion if she knows that her child is provided with everything necessary.
United Russia member Alexey Timofeev, who at the next meeting should “light up” with fines for stomping cats and loud sex, proposed to Milonov the abolition of the pension system as a measure to increase the birth rate, saying, “your pensions are your children.” The only one who publicly supported the champion of morality was the “Socialist Revolutionary” - defector Andrei Anokhin, who, in his own words, “perceives the initiative more deeply.” He went further - he wants to “protect a woman from a man’s aggression.”
An annoyed and flushed Milonov said that only Anokhin understood him, and accused those present of “primitivizing the problem,” since they, they say, “refuse to recognize living people as living people.”
— You have abolished criminal liability for prostitution. It was in the 90s that Moscow turned into a prostitution paradise! - he addressed the Yabloko people. — For the sake of your own comfort and beautiful historical parallels, you closed your eyes to your conscience! Alexander Arkadyevich (Kobrinsky - Ed.), I know that you help, including financially, the St. Petersburg Institute of Jewish Studies. And in Israel, abortions are performed from the 12th to the 20th week, when children are almost screaming when they are killed. And you want the same for Russian women!
The “Socialist Revolutionaries” stood up for the dumbfounded Yabloko supporters. Kovalev demanded that Andenko make a reprimand to Milonov, who is “inciting ethnic and religious hatred.”
And after the scandalous meeting, Boris Vishnevsky said that the Yabloko members would discuss the situation with Milonov, since “we are tired of the constant insults.” “We will appeal on behalf of the faction to the chairman of the Legislative Assembly with a demand to call him to order,” he explained. “If this measure does not take effect, we will raise the issue of depriving Milonov of the post of chairman of the Legislation Committee.”

Alexandra GARMAZHAPOVA