Doctors have calculated how many abortions are performed in Russia: the figure is incredible

The difference in numbers is easy to explain. The fact is that Rosstat takes into account only surgical termination of pregnancy, and in the report at the conference, apparently, we are talking about emergency contraception and medical abortion in very early stages, which, it turns out, are three times more often than Russian women usually resorted to last year.

According to various estimates, the average number of pregnancy terminations in Russia is usually about 500 thousand cases per year. According to an analytical study conducted by pharmaceutical companies, the total consumption of drugs for medical abortion in 2022 amounted to 1.4 million packages – an increase relative to 2021 reached 60%. The entire past year demonstrated a record volume of consumption of such drugs. If we add to this the data on surgical abortions for 2022 from the Ministry of Health (395,200), then we get this prohibitive figure, when for every full-term pregnancy there could be one artificial termination.

Participants in the international conference “Abortion and Women’s Health” were unanimous in their opinion: the number of abortions must be reduced. Moreover, the president relentlessly repeats that Russia must follow spiritual and moral traditions and set a course for having many children.

“The President promises that everything will be done so that there is motivation for pregnancy,” Leila Adamyan, chief obstetrician-gynecologist of the Russian Federation, academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, expressed her point of view.

Every girl, in her opinion, should play with dolls from childhood, imagining herself in the image of a mother, and not with gadgets. “Low social culture is the main reason for interruption.”

“If a woman has previously had an abortion, then her unborn child grows up in the place where the murder was committed,” says Nikolai Zharkin, an obstetrician-gynecologist.

The conference participants see the problem that abortion in Russia has not yet been removed from the free compulsory medical insurance system, that is, any woman can have it of her own choice. From their point of view, this is unacceptable.

“It is also necessary to ban private clinics where abortions take place on a paid basis,” says Priest Fyodor Lukyanov, chairman of the Patriarchal Commission on Family Issues, Protection of Motherhood and Childhood.

Since private clinics do not keep accurate statistics, and the state cannot accurately calculate how many future citizens it is losing and control this process, the legal regulations for pregnancy are not observed: a mandatory week of silence, psychological counseling, the purpose of which is to dissuade the woman, ultrasound, in which the expectant mother will see the beating heart of her child. “We need to let mom and dad listen to it,” Nikolai Nikolaev, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Property, Property and Land Relations, is convinced.

According to doctors who oppose abortion, it is necessary to explain to women that abortion leads to cervical cancer, breast cancer, fibroids and mental disorders.

“I don’t know a single woman who wouldn’t regret not having an abortion. Such people simply don’t exist,” says Ekaterina Markova, head of the All-Russian program for helping crisis pregnant women “Save Life.”

She said that even mothers who, having refused abortions for medical reasons, gave birth to an initially doomed sick child who lived only a short time, thanked her for giving him the opportunity to hold him in their arms and bury him. And that the feeling of guilt among those who terminated a pregnancy persists throughout their lives.

The first step towards reducing abortions has already been taken this year: the country is introducing control over the sale of drugs for the so-called “safe medical abortion” and emergency contraception.

“Hormonal contraceptives are a nuclear chain reaction that triggers dysfunction of all organs,” expressed his opinion, Doctor of Medical Sciences Vladimir Savelyev, professor at the Izhevsk State Medical Academy. He believes that although hormonal contraception has indeed reduced the number of surgical abortions, it is generally harmful to women’s health: “there are countries where they do not use it. Religious women are also against it.”

In addition, from his point of view, family planning brought to the Russian Federation from the West is also undesirable.

Another initiative of those gathered: to legislate that women cannot have abortions without the written consent of the child’s father. “This will increase the man’s responsibility for what is happening.”

“Behind every abortion there is not only a woman, but also a man. A woman can have her say, but you need to work with men, they are the ones who make the final decision,” concluded Elena Sheshko, Director of the Department of Medical Care for Children, Obstetrics and Public Health Services of the Russian Ministry of Health.

By the way, according to statistics, most often abortions in Russia are performed by married women from 30 to 39 years old, pregnant with their third child – for social reasons. Only 11% of those who come for an interruption can be dissuaded from this step. Young girls born and raised in the 90s and 2000s usually keep their first pregnancy, even if it came suddenly, and most often it is not allowed to happen.

But contraception does not increase the population of Russians, so the state must fight not only against abortion, but also to increase the birth rate in general. Moreover, assistance to pregnant women and mothers in the Russian Federation is varied and great: there is maternity capital, federal and regional programs to support motherhood and childhood, a strict increase in the positive image of large families in society, financial payments, among other things.

“A woman does not receive less than a million in the first year of a child’s life. We are solving the housing issue, if there are no documents, we will help,” lists Tatyana Butskaya, deputy of the State Duma.

She talked about creating a mother’s motivator. A conversation with a pregnant woman should begin with the question: what kind of child are you planning to give birth to? “Give birth, not kill.”

Coincidentally, the conference took place the day after International Safe Abortion Day. Forum participants insist that in the Russian Federation the concept of “safe abortion” should be excluded from all regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation, letters, protocols and other documents, as “misleading and unreliable.”

Of course, children must be born in Russia. For a happy and, most importantly, long life. And since the state wants to control the birth rate, it must provide it to them.