Private clinics in four regions of Russia stopped performing abortions without waiting for the State Duma to ban them.

The authorities of the Kursk region and annexed Crimea announced on Thursday that private medical institutions would refuse to perform abortions. Prior to this, such decisions were made by some clinics in Tatarstan and the Chelyabinsk region. This happened even before the adoption of the corresponding law, the draft of which, under pressure from the Russian Orthodox Church, is planned to be submitted to the State Duma. World Health Organization expert Lyubov Erofeeva believes that a ban on private clinics performing abortions will not lead to an increase in the birth rate, but will only complicate the lives of women.

Details. The Russian authorities of annexed Crimea emphasized in their message that private clinics on the peninsula decided to “voluntarily refuse” to perform abortions. And officials of the Kursk region, having announced that four out of five private clinics in the region have refused to terminate pregnancy with the help of drugs, expect that “the remaining medical institution will make such a decision in the near future.” refused abortions Previously, some clinics in the Chelyabinsk region and Tatarstan .

• At the same time, deputies of all factions in the State Duma are now discussing a complete ban on abortions in private clinics and a bill on this will be prepared in the near future, State Duma deputy Dmitry Gusev said this week.
• Gusev was one of the participants in the round table “Issues of termination of pregnancy. Legislative aspects”, which was held in the State Duma at the end of October. At the meeting, deputies promised to pass a law that would ban commercial clinics from performing abortions. They accused private medical institutions of not providing statistics on the number of abortions, not complying with requirements for “silence days” (time that a doctor gives a woman to think about the decision to have an abortion) and performing “criminal abortions.”
• Obstetrician-gynecologist, general director of the Russian association “Population and Development”, WHO expert Lyubov Erofeeva, in a conversation with the Agency, called all accusations against private clinics regarding abortions “lies,” including the failure to provide statistics and ignoring the “week of silence.” According to her, in reality, only 14% of all pregnancies terminated in Russia occur in private clinics.
• The WHO expert believes that such a measure will not lead to a reduction in abortions and an increase in the birth rate. “Abortions occur due to unwanted pregnancies, and not at all due to the number of clinics that offer their services,” she explained.
• “We are showing that we don’t love a woman and the state machine has the right to do whatever it wants with her. This is done to women who have work, family, small children, mobilized husbands, and volunteer work on their shoulders,” Erofeeva was indignant.

Context . The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has called on the authorities at least twice over the past year and a half to ban abortions in private clinics. For example, in May 2022 and January 2023, he stated that private clinics were profiting from abortions. He was also outraged by the fact that the state, within the framework of compulsory medical insurance, pays for these operations.

• A week ago, Vladimir Putin called the problem of abortion in Russia “acute.” He noted that it can be solved in two ways - by banning the sale of drugs that terminate pregnancy or by improving the socio-economic situation in the country.
• Demographer Alexey Raksha previously told the Agency that there would be no significant population growth from attempts to reduce the number of abortions. He cited Poland as an example, where after the ban on abortion in 1993, the birth rate continued to fall, and after the rules were tightened in 2022, the decline only accelerated. According to Raksha, a similar situation occurred in Ireland, Spain and Argentina.