From state funded abortions to war on "empty cots" Russian dilemma

When I heard a news report about Vladimir Putin encouraging more babies to be born in Russia by giving time off and encouraging the listening of romantic tunes by Boyz II Men, I had to wonder about their abortion policy and if it had changed. Not yet, but they are starting to see the error in their ways.




An article shows just how the schizophrenic thinking of the Russian govt. can be. Abortions are the method of birth control used and state funded abortion commonplace.
The relative ease of getting an abortion, in fact, has blinded many women to the numerous health risks associated with the process, especially for those who turn to it more than once. "The complications include bleeding and inflammation in the short term," says Lyubov Yerofeyeva, the director of the Russian Family Planning Association, an NGO that works to improve sex education in Russia. "In the long term, the most severe complication could be infertility."
And with the population level in severe decline -- demographers estimate it could fall below 100 million by 2050, from 150 million in 1992 -- the Russian government is also keen to tackle the issue of abortion. Last year, then-President Vladimir Putin introduced a long-term project to encourage women to have families with more than one child.




So now Putin says to have at least three children per family. Women have been scarred psychologically and medically by multiple abortions and now they need to do an about face and produce more children.
For Putin has declared war on empty cots with classic Putin bravado.He’s often insisted that having lots of babies is key to Russia’s internal security, to Russia becoming more “influential” on the world state. Why have a great democracy or a flourishing economy when you can simply outnumber everyone else? Putin puts the desirable figure at three babies per household and, in 2007, one province helped things along by declaring a Day of Conception. The idea was that if Russians got the day off work then they might stay at home, put on some Boyz II Men, close the curtains and help bring back the good old days of Soviet hegemony. Women who gave birth 9 months later could win a refrigerator. And they say that romance is dead?

Russia signs law ....ads for abortion must not call it a safe procedure

I want to highlight something from yesterday's Proliferations that gotten edited down to the point of being missed... IMHO. Thanks to Secular Pro Life for the notice of the article. I think it is highly important. In the US we are a bit conceited thinking we always lead the way but in this case Russia who have had state paid abortions on demand since the 1960's  is ahead of  us.  This trend is showing what may be in store for us after 4 decades of aborting our future.

"The changes require abortion providers to devote 10 percent of any advertising to describing the dangers of abortion to a woman’s health, and they make it illegal to describe abortion as a safe medical procedure."

Did you read that?? This is huge. The abortion industry must acknowledge the dangers of abortions in their ads and it is illegal to call abortion a safe medical procedure!!! As in truth in advertising.  I love it....

Mr. Medvedev has made the fight against Russia’s falling birthrate and plunging population, now at just under 143 million, a feature of his presidency, offering incentives like payouts for a third child and land plots to encourage women to give birth.

Russia's first lady is leading a campaign against abortion entitled Give Me Life. In the campaign she has made up brochures giving  graphic descriptions of the health threat in  abortions and the tie to cancer. Mrs. Medvedev is also using her public platform to campaign for family values in coordination with the Russian Orthodox Church entitled "Day of Family, Love and Faithfulness." What a first lady!

Give Me Life

On a personal note, I always find these stories interesting not only because I am a pro life news junkie but because I have two grandchildren that were adopted from Russia. One birth mother we know little about except she delivered a baby girl probably receiving little or no prenatal care and disappeared. She easily could have walked into a number of abortion clinics in Russia at any stage of pregnancy and had the state pay for her abortion. She did not. I would love to meet her and say thank you.

Countries that offer free abortions now in population decline...so how is that working out for you?

 Slate  prints an article about countries with serious population decline and ways they are trying to make up the difference such as Russia.

In May, Vladimir Putin, alarmed at Russia's declining population, which is falling thanks to short life expectancy and a plummeting birthrate (1.17 children per woman, down from about 2 in 1990), offered a bonus of 250,000 rubles (about $9,200) to women who would have a second child.

But for developed nations, the birthrates may have dropped too far. Europe and Japan face a shortage of children that endangers pensioners and undermines economic dynamism. Even China is facing a labor shortage, thanks to its one-child policy.

I have written several times about the declining population in Russia and how they are now doing a 360  to try to turn things around. Even the Russian Orthodox Church is waking up.

So to Ted Turner who said they the world should emulate China's One Child policy because too many children are killing the planet to our own Vice President "understanding" China's one child policy this is what abortion does for you.  How is that choice working out for you?

Russia: experiment has failed now recommending strict laws against abortions.....

Last Saturday, I attended my granddaughter's birthday party. Besides her brother, there were three other children there that were adopted from Russia. They are the lucky ones who escaped the liberal abortion laws of their home country. 

Well Russia now seems to be doing a 360 per this article. Even the Russian Orthodox Church is waking up from their silence and speaking up against abortion. It is never too late but the country is now suffering from a serious population decline. They have had the most liberal laws  and free abortions have not brought the desired result. Abortion is the birth control of preference.  In 2000, they reported a shocking 169 abortions per 100 births in 2000.

Legislation being considered includes the banning of the Morning After Pill, eliminating abortion from their free services at govt. run clinics, parental consent for minors and spousal consent for married women, week long waiting period, safe harbors places for mothers to leave babies they cannot care for without fear of criminal prosecution. So the Russians have done the experiment and are working to turn their country around after the experiment failed. So glad to see the church get involved...they have been silent too long as in this country.

Natalya Karpovich, a lawmaker with the dominant pro-Kremlin party United Russia, who is expecting her fifth child, said she supported stricter regulation of abortions.

Of course all the laws will not automatically get passed but kudos to  her for starting the fight.

One young girl, one unborn baby, and one very important life-changing decision

by SJA Today Staff

By Anya Murray

Sharing my story might make some angry. Maybe it will make some feel uncomfortable, while even hurting others. I learned very early on in my life that I was not put on this earth to make people feel comfortable. Between being born into teenage pregnancy and poverty, and later becoming an orphan due to alcohol and drug abuse, I have always had a bit of uncomfortableness around me. So why stop now?

One young girl, one unborn baby, and one very important, life-changing decision to make are where my story begins. The young girl does not know what to do. Her world is crumbling into pieces. She is fifteen years old, and her boyfriend just broke up with her. She just found out she is two months pregnant.  She is overcome with fear for her future, and her heart is heavy. She asks herself, what will people think of her when they find out she is pregnant?  What will her parents’ reaction be?  All the fears cause her to consider having an abortion.

To make things even worse, the fifteen-year-old girl’s family is very poor and cannot afford having another mouth to feed.  Her parents are alcoholics, and family life is already very difficult. She is afraid she may be kicked out of her home if she were to decide to keep the baby, and she is no longer in a relationship with the father of her baby. She wonders if she will ever find another boyfriend if she has a child. She is still in school. The thoughts of having her whole future still ahead of her and how a baby will hold her back are paralyzing.

The fifteen-year-old described in this story chose life for her unborn baby.  I will be forever grateful of that decision, because she was pregnant with me.Life was not always easy for me growing up with a teenage mother, who later became a drug addict and alcoholic. Yet, I always knew I was loved.  When my birth mother was not able to care for me, God always did. She died by the time I was nine years old from a drug overdose. She was 25.

Oftentimes, pro-choice supporters make statements like, “You do not know what it is like to grow up in poverty or with alcoholic parents,” or “No child would want to be born into poverty or into a family of alcoholics.”  Well, I have lived that life, and, I must admit, if given the choice of having a family with money and no addiction versus the life I had, I would probably choose the first option.  But, if given the choice between the life I had in Russia and that of a death sentence, I would choose the life I had.

Russia introduces bill that abortion is no longer a medical service...

Now  this is interesting....Russian govt . is considering a bill to disqualify abortion as a medical service and allow doctors to opt out of performing them. It would also hold doctors who perform abortions in the second half of pregnancy criminally responsible. Wow! The hope is to bring down the number of abortions in Russia which is now currently over 1 million a year. Obviously a concern is the loss of population in Russia which is not known for valuing life.  Some commenters ask if that means that currently doctors are being made to perform abortions against their will but another noted that in Russia life is cheap. Are we far behind. While their motive to the declining population this is still good news. Abortion should not be considered a medical treatment. And as the grandmother to two precious children adopted from Russia...so glad they survived this mindset.

"The bill aims to create the conditions for a pregnant woman to opt for giving birth," Yelena Mizulina, head of the State Duma committee for family, women and children, said.

Russians turn away from abortion on demand...

My granddaughter's birth mother ,for whatever reason despite her desperate living conditions, did not opt for an abortion but carried her to term. She could have had an abortion easily and paid for by the govt.For that I will be eternally grateful....

from One News

A recent Levada Analytical Center poll of 1,600 Russians shows that an increasing number now favor restrictions on abortion.

Current law in Russia allows abortion on demand up to 12 weeks gestation, up to 22 weeks for social reasons, and at any point during pregnancy for "medical necessity. The "service" is offered free of charge at all state clinics.

"Russia has had some of the worst abortion legislation in the world since the 1920s," reports Joseph Meaney of Human Life International (HLI). "And basically, abortion was a way of life under communism."

He thinks the change in public opinion, reflected in the Levada poll, can be attributed to the church in Russia and to plain, cold facts. "The fact is that Russia is dying out. The population has actually shrunk by over 12 million people just since 1992," he explains. "So literally, Russia is a dying country, and abortion is one of the main reasons for it."

Russian Health Ministry figures show 1.2 million abortions were performed last year in comparison to the 1.7 million live births. Up to a quarter-million Russian women per year are left sterile due to abortion complications. Meanwhile, Meaney points out that life expectancy is lessening in the country due to alcohol, drug abuse and, to some extent, AIDS.

"And so the situation in Russia is that the work force is actually declining. They desperately need more children, not only to fill their country, but even to fill their workforce, and it's just not happening," he laments.

The same situation has been taking place in European countries, where a number of nations have been forced to import labor from other locations, which are often predominantly Muslim.

Law murky for mom who returned adopted Russian boy...Shelbyville, TN

Here is the sad story.....so heartbreaking and on a personal note, I remember when there was an incident when my daughter and her husband were in the process of adopting their two toddlers from Russia. The terrible incident in the US was broadcast on one of the shows like Inside Edition or one of those and the publicity reached Russia. They responded by shutting down adoptions to America for months....causing our grandson John to be 3 when he came here instead of 2. I just cannot imagine what the mother was thinking....it does not appear that she sought help in the US for his behavior issues. You don't get a 6 year old that came from an orphanage in Russia and not expect issues. It is a different culture, language, climate, food and new people in your life. I pray for  this little boy and for all the couples who adoptions are now disrupted and on hold and for all the waiting children who are being deprived of their forever home...and thankful that our John and Finley are with us forever...

Russia should reduce abortions due to population problem

Russia should cut abortions to boost population: minister

"The topic of reducing abortions is definitely on today's agenda. This won't solve the birthrate problem 100 percent, but around 20 to 30 percent," Health Minister Tatyana Golikova said, quoted by Russian news agencies.

This is of special interest to me since the bookends in this picture of my grandchildren were adopted from Russia. We are blessed to have them.