Washington, DC — With little public fanfare, Russia has approved a new law that limits abortions performed after the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Russia has long had one of the highest abortion rates and Russian women have suffered lasting medical problems as a result.
Previously there were essentially no limits on abortions after 12 weeks. Now, women considering abortions can only cite four reasons that can allow them to have one: rape, imprisonment, the death or severe disability of the husband or a court ruling stripping a woman of her parental rights.
As before, abortions can still be legal if the baby has severe physical deformities or the pregnancy endangers the mother's life.
Russia has had one of the highest abortion rates in the world for a long time. However, abortion, used as the country's primary means of birth control, is finally on the decline, from a high of 4.6 million in 1988 to 1.7 million last year.
The abortion rate is still astronomical: For every 10 births there are about 13 abortions, compared with roughly three in the United States.
“Abortion should never in any society be the primary method of birth control,” said Vladimir Kulakov, a leading gynecologist and head of the Scientific Center for Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Lawmakers and leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church welcomed the change as a good start in decreasing the number of abortions.
“It's a first step,” said Aleksandr Chuyev, a member of the lower house of Parliament, who introduced legislation earlier this year to ban all abortions after the 12th week and then took part in negotiations with the Ministry of Health on drafting the new restrictions.
He plans to sponsor a bill in the next session of Parliament to give unborn children the same rights as a born child.
“Maybe then women will think more before they have an abortion,” he said.
(This article courtesy of Steven Ertelt and LifeNews.com. For more information or to subscribe go to LifeNews.com or email news@LifeNews.com.)
