Russian activism group Pussy Riot films pro-abortion demonstration at Indiana Statehouse

Rory Appleton, Indianapolis Star
Nov 14, 2023

Russian feminist activism group Pussy Riot filmed demonstrations outside of and within the Indiana Statehouse on Tuesday as part of a multimedia project protesting Indiana’s near-total abortion ban.

Nadya Tolokonnikova, creator of the group that rose to prominence through early 2010s protests in her native Russia, led a gathering of 18 women – mostly Indiana University students. The group, dressed in black slip dresses, black boots and wearing pearl necklaces and bright-pink balaclava face coverings painted with black anarchy symbols and black crosses, gathered outside the Statehouse just before 8 a.m. Within minutes, they had inflated a large pink vagina and begun filming.

Continued: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/local/2023/11/14/pussy-riot-films-abortion-ban-demonstration-indiana-statehouse-nadya-tolokonnikova/71517552007/

14.11.2023

Abortion restrictions in Russia spark outrage as the country takes a conservative turn

BY DASHA LITVINOVA
October 27, 2023

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Despite its last-minute scheduling, the meeting at a bookstore in Russia’s westernmost city of Kaliningrad still drew about 60 people, with many outraged by a lawmaker’s efforts to ban abortions in local private clinics.

The weeknight turnout surprised and heartened Dasha Yakovleva, one of the organizers, amid recent crackdowns on political activism under President Vladimir Putin. “Right now, there is no room for political action in Russia. The only place left is our kitchens,” Yakovleva, co-founder of the Feminitive Community women’s group, told The Associated Press. “And here, it was a public place, well-known in Kaliningrad, and everyone spoke out openly about how they see this measure, why they think it’s unjustified, inappropriate.”

Continued: https://apnews.com/article/abortion-russia-women-rights-feminism-fc5eab75b5e3d028aeb1f70ec8a9a2b1

From Stalin to Putin, abortion has had a complicated history in Russia

By DASHA LITVINOVA, Associated Press
October 26, 2023

TALLINN, Estonia -- They were banned under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin but commonplace under later Kremlin leaders. Now, after less than a century, official attitudes about abortion in Russia are changing once again.

Although abortion is still legal and widely available, new restrictions are being considered as President Vladimir Putin takes an increasingly socially conservative turn and seeks to reverse Russia's declining population.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/stalin-putin-abortion-complicated-history-russia-104419114

Russia Tightens Controls Over Abortion Pill Sales

The Moscow Times
Oct 4, 2023

Russia’s Health Ministry will limit the distribution of abortion-inducing pills in pharmacies, in the country’s latest move to clamp down on abortion access.

Misoprostol and mifepristone have been added to the ministry’s list of medications subject to subject-quantitative registration (PKU), according to its decree published Tuesday.

Continued: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/10/04/russia-tightens-controls-over-abortion-pill-sales-a82662

04.10.2023

Russia Health Ministry

Russia’s Mordovia Becomes First Region to Outlaw ‘Coercion’ Into Abortion

Aug 3, 2023
Moscow Times

Russia's republic of Mordovia has become the country’s first region to outlaw the act of “coercing” women into undergoing abortion, independent media reported.

The regional-level law passed Thursday potentially sets the stage for similar laws across the country.

Continued: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/08/03/russias-mordovia-becomes-first-region-to-outlaw-coercion-into-abortion-a82044

03.08.2023

News

abortion coercion

abortion law reform

anti-choice propaganda

Mikhail Murashko

Mordovia

Natalya Moskvitina

Russian Orthodox Church

Women for Life foundation

Russia

Human Rights

Law

Demand for Abortion Pills in Russia Hits Record High – Kommersant

Aug 2, 2023
Sergei Kiselev / Moskva News Agency

Demand for abortion drugs in Russia reached an all-time high in 2022, the Kommersant business daily reported Wednesday, citing data by the RNC Pharma consultancy.

A total of 1.4 million drugs that induce abortions and 2.2 million emergency contraception drugs were sold in Russia last year, marking a 60% and 53% increase from 2021 respectively.

Continued: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/08/02/demand-for-abortion-pills-in-russia-hits-record-high-kommersant-a82030

02.08.2023

News

demand for abortion pills

Russia Edges Closer to Abortion Ban in Quest to Preserve ‘Traditional Values’

By Leyla Latypova
July 27, 2023

The Russian government could be moving closer toward outlawing abortion, experts and activists have told The Moscow Times, as its wartime stifling of freedoms spreads to sexual and reproductive health rights.

While Russia has historically had a liberal abortion policy — with the exception of the Stalin-era ban — the conservative turn among the country's leadership, combined with a push from the Russian Orthodox Church, have put a target on the issue.

Continued: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/07/27/russia-edges-closer-to-abortion-ban-in-quest-to-preserve-traditional-values-a81977

27.07.2023

mandatory waiting period

Marianna Muravyeva

Mikhail Murashko

outlawing abortion

Russian Orthodox Church

What the U.S. can learn from Stalin’s abortion ban

BY WENDY Z. GOLDMAN
JAN. 4, 2022

As the right to get an abortion in the United States is whittled away, state by state and statute by statute, we can learn important lessons about the impact of its repression from the history of one country where it was first legalized — and then re-criminalized.

In 1920, Soviet Russia, which would become the Soviet Union in 1922, became the first country in the world to legalize abortion. In an unprecedented decree, the state noted that punishing women or doctors for abortion had “no positive results. It drives the operation underground and makes women the victims of greedy and often ignorant abortionists who profit from this secrecy.”

Continued: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-01-04/stalins-abortion-ban-soviet-union

Russian Orthodox Church has ‘soft & flexible’ stance on abortion & does not demand practice be made illegal, spokesman reveals

26 Dec, 2020
By Jonny Tickle

The Russian Orthodox Church is not proposing a blanket ban on abortion and its official position is actually “more flexible” than a complete prohibition. That’s according to Vladimir Legoyda, the institution's main spokesperson.

Speaking on Saturday to RTVI, a New York-based Russian-language channel aimed at expats, Legoyda revealed that the Church is not entirely against the termination of pregnancy being legal.

Continued: https://www.rt.com/russia/510794-orthodox-church-abortion-position/

26.12.2020

Featured

News

blanket ban on abortion

Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund

Oleg Apolikhin

Patriarch Kirill

Russian Orthodox Church

Putin Orders Government to Improve Abortion Prevention Efforts

Oct. 27, 2020
Moscow Times

President Vladimir Putin has urged the government to improve abortion prevention strategies in an effort to reduce the number of terminated pregnancies and offset Russia's population decline.

Putin’s order was made public days after Poland’s top court deemed abortions performed in cases of fetal defects to be unconstitutional. For Poland, which already had some of Europe’s strictest abortion laws, the decision amounted to a near-total ban on the procedure, sparking mass protests in over 150 Polish cities.

Continued: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/10/27/putin-orders-government-to-improve-abortion-prevention-efforts-a71865

27.10.2020