Low-birth Russia curbs abortions

Russia has quietly clamped down on the conditions under which women can have abortions, a sign of the slow increase of the church's influence and growing fears over falling birth rates.

Abortions are common in Russia, with some estimates suggesting there are 4.5m a year - four times the number in the US, and approximately one for every 35 people in the country. The ease with which Russian women can get an abortion - adverts offering the service are displayed on the metro - has led to an estimated 13 abortions for every 10 live births.

But the government recently reduced from 13 to four the reasons women can present for a legal abortion on the state after 12 weeks of pregnancy. Previously, women who were not married, too poor, unemployed, had too small a flat, or three children already, could get an abortion.

Now the option is there only if women have been raped, are in jail, or have a disabled husband. The option also exists if either partner is judged unfit to be a parent.

Abortions after 22 weeks remain, as before, only permissible if the mother's health is at risk. The majority of abortions happen in the first 12 weeks and are unaffected by the change in legislation.

The new law has also been interpreted as a sign that the Orthodox church's long-standing, large constituency, which was suppressed during Soviet times, is slowly finding a more public voice in state morality and legislation.

The law is also a response to the proliferation of "underground" private abortions and the reproductive health issues this has raised. Officially only 2m abortions happen each year.

Women's rights campaigners have denounced the move as an attempt to curb women's right to choose, whereas critics of abortion have hailed it as the first Russian recognition of the rights of the unborn child. It becomes law in the coming months when officially implemented by the health ministry.

Figures released last week showed that the 144.5 million strong population is falling at a rate of about a million a year, caused by a falling birth rate and low life expectancy. Campaigners have argued that commonplace abortions are just compounding Russia's demographic crisis.

In 1955, Stalin's ban on abortions was repealed allowing the procedure to take root in society, and in the early 1990s a law "on the protection of citizens' health" was passed outlining the initial 13 conditions.

"It was a liberal government and an extremely liberal law," said Alexander Chuyev, an independent MP, Christian and anti-abortion campaigner. "I'm sure it contradicted the interests of the state and its citizens."

He said the birth rate was very low and that "millions of [unsafe] abortions" were "increasing the ranks of women who can never have children".

He also blamed the state for only providing £1.50 a week in child support, thereby "forcing" women to terminate pregnancies.

Anti-abortion MPs, whom Mr Chuyev classifies as "leftwing or patriotic", are trying to reintroduce the old Soviet notion of the Mother Heroine - a woman flooded with state benefits as a reward for her massive brood.

Some groups already offer women finance to try to persuade them to choose birth over abortion.

Natasha Bukharova, 19, is unemployed, and now lives in a flat with her four-year-old son after the charity Life gave her financial support. Her partner left her a year after they decided to marry and have a child.

"Practically all my girlfriends had an abortion," she said. "I think choice is good. Why have a baby if you can't give him normal conditions, food or even education?

"But all of us, if we dared have an abortion, are very afraid. You never know what kind of doctor you will come across."

She said one of her friends had her womb removed after an abortion led to a serious infection.

She added that information about contraception was passed by word of mouth between her friends.