Russian Abortion Restrictions Spark Widespread Outrage Amidst Conservative Shift

New laws to limit abortion access include: restricting private clinic services, increasing costs of contraceptives, implementing psychological interventions to discourage termination, and pressuring women to reconsider their decision through the introduction of "motivational questionnaires".

While abortion remains legal and widely available in Russia, recent attempts to restrict it, such as restricting private clinics from providing the service and introducing 'motivational questionnaires' to pressure women to reconsider termination, have sparked outrage.
As part of the restrictions, the Health Ministry has drafted talking points to discourage women from terminating their pregnancies and emergency contraceptives are being made virtually unavailable, thus raising the price of the available ones.
Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko, aligned with President Putin's conservative shift, has condemned women for prioritizing education and career over childbearing.
Other restrictions being proposed include a waiting period between first consultation and the abortion, sometimes up to a week, based on the stage of pregnancy. Also, some state clinics refer women to religious representatives for consultation before approving an abortion.
There is a noticeable backlash against the increasingly conservative restrictions, with activists encouraging official complaints, circulating online petitions, and staging small protests. In one instance, a meeting in Russia’s city of Kaliningrad drew about 60 people who expressed discontent about a lawmaker’s efforts to ban abortions in local private clinics.

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