Patriarch Kirill called for the adoption of a federal law banning inducement to abortion

Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’ Kirill supported the initiative of several Russian regions to ban inducing women to have an abortion and called for the adoption of a corresponding law “at the federal level.”

“Unfortunately, the number of abortions in the country remains high. Thank God, separate initiatives are appearing at the legislative level aimed at reducing the number of abortions. Not so long ago in Mordovia, for example, a law was passed banning inducement to abortion. I hope that this initiative will be supported in other regions and at the federal level,” the patriarch said at the opening of the XI Church-wide Congress on Social Ministry (quote from TASS).

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church said that sometimes, including for commercial reasons, doctors persuade a woman to have an abortion, but, according to him, this is a crime. He believes that the adoption of the relevant law is important for Russia in the context of a demographic crisis. “We really need more people, this is an obvious fact, everyone admits it – both politicians and sociologists,” said the patriarch.

The first federal subject to introduce liability for inducing abortion was Mordovia. For individuals, fines range from 5 to 10 thousand rubles, for legal entities – from 100 thousand to 200 thousand rubles. In November, a similar ban was introduced in the Tver region. They want to pass similar laws in the Tambov region and Tatarstan.

At the end of October, the State Duma discussed proposals to tighten the practice of abortion: parliamentarians proposed to keep the written consent of a man for an abortion in a registered marriage, and in the case of pregnancy of a minor girl, the consent of a parent or guardian. In addition, one of the proposals was to limit the period for abortion from 12 to 8 weeks of pregnancy.

According to the Ministry of Health, over ten years the number of abortions has more than halved. According to the Federal Compulsory Health Insurance Fund, most abortions under compulsory medical insurance are performed in the Sverdlovsk region, Moscow, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Moscow region and Bashkiria.

Erdni Kagaltynov