Kurultai of Bashkiria again sent to the State Duma a draft law on the prohibition of propaganda of childfree ideology

The Kurultai of Bashkiria submitted to the State Duma an edited text of a bill banning childfree propaganda among children and adolescents. Earlier, representatives of the government of the Russian Federation and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church expressed claims to the document. Patriarch Kirill, in particular, expressed concern that information about the monastic lifestyle, which excludes the birth of children, would be banned. The authors took into account the comments and made the appropriate changes.

Kurultai of Bashkiria again submitted to the State Duma bill on the prohibition of propaganda of childfree ideology among children and adolescents. Its authors propose to amend the law “On the protection of children from information harmful to their health and development.” The amendments provide for the recognition of illegal propaganda of voluntary refusal to have children. The text defines what exactly should be considered such propaganda.

Bashkir lawmakers, in collaboration with State Duma deputies Elvira Aitkulova and Rimma Utyasheva, proposed expanding the list of information prohibited for distribution among minors by including “voluntary refusal to have children and the ideology of childlessness” in it in September 2022. However, two months later, the bill received a negative review from the Russian government. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko pointed out to the authors of the initiative that the document does not contain definitions of “voluntary refusal to have children” and “ideology of childlessness”. In addition, it was noted in the review that these concepts are included in the concept of “information that denies family values”, and this is already prohibited content for distribution among children and adolescents.

On March 2, 2023, the Kurultai decided to withdraw the document from consideration – by that time, the regional parliament with Ms. Aitkulova (Rimma Utyasheva had previously refused authorship of the bill) had already sent a new version of the amendments to the State Duma, which took into account the comments received. The deputies formulated what should be considered “voluntary refusal to have children” and excluded the “ideology of childlessness” from the text.

However, this time a negative response from the Cabinet followed: Dmitry Grigorenko again called the proposed changes redundant.

The conclusion, signed by Nina Ostanina, chairman of the State Duma’s profile committee, notes that “the bill caused a high public outcry from citizens, public and religious organizations, as well as representatives of the media industry.”

This time we are talking about the claims expressed by Patriarch Kirill. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church pointed out that the adoption of the amendments in the proposed edition will lead to the fact that information about the monastic lifestyle, which excludes the birth of children, will be banned. At the same time, the legal department of the State Duma saw the need to make corresponding changes to the federal law on basic guarantees of the rights of the child. In this regard, the authors of the initiative were asked to change the text of the document again.

The bill has once again been adjusted and has already been sent to the State Duma, the Bashkirian parliament reported. This time, it provides that information about the refusal to have children associated with medical contraindications and religious beliefs will not be prohibited. “In general, the concept of the document has found wide support in society and the deputies,” said the speaker of the Kurultai, Konstantin Tolkachev. In his opinion, “a turn from alien Western landmarks to traditional Russian self-identity requires vigilance in relation to information threats.”

If the amendments are adopted, the dissemination of information about the unwillingness to have children will be qualified as an administrative offense, as a punishment for which a fine is provided: for individuals – from 2 thousand to 3 thousand rubles, for officials – from 5 thousand to 10 thousand rubles ., for legal entities – from 20 thousand to 50 thousand rubles.

Vitaly Milonov, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children, hopes that this time the bill banning childfree propaganda will be adopted. He called the childfree propaganda “a disgusting vile deviation, the place of which is in the Ukrainian garbage heap.” According to Mr. Milonov, the path of the bill would be less difficult if the deputies of the Kurultai initiated its adoption together with the State Duma – this would help to avoid formal errors. “It would deprive the opponents of the bill of the opportunity to stick rainbow-colored studs in our wheels,” he specified.

Natalia Balykova, Ufa