Overview
- TASS reports that legal bans on encouraging women to terminate pregnancies are in effect in 27 regions, with roughly ten more considering similar measures.
- Regional penalties differ, including a recent move in Kirov Region to raise maximum fines for legal entities to 1 million rubles.
- Private providers are increasingly stepping back from abortion services, with Omsk seeing 30 of 31 clinics opt out and full refusals reported in KhMAO and Kursk, while some regions report no private licenses for the procedure.
- The Russian Orthodox Church’s Patriarchal Commission says a 2023–2025 phone check of 129 private clinics in Moscow Region found 110 prepared to proceed without the required waiting period or psychological consultation, prompting 64 filings to the Prosecutor General.
- The commission cites an imbalance in Moscow Region, with 207 institutions licensed for abortions versus 29 accepting births, and notes extensive abortion advertising across 339 aggregator sites in 17 cities.