Matvienko promised not to abolish abortion

President of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko defended women’s rights

Photo: MOSCOW City News Agency

Now there is another twist (this time more of a setback) in the strange media campaign to ban abortion in Russia. The President of the Federation Council, Valentina Matvienko, unexpectedly defended the right of women, as they say, to do whatever they want with their bodies.

– I am absolutely sure that neither bans, nor campaigns, nor pressure, nor criminalization of legislation in this area can and will not be able to solve this problem. And the state will definitely not follow this path,” said Valentina Ivanovna.

Unlike everyone who has already spoken out on the issue, Matvienko has real influence in preserving abortion. Simply because such a decision will be clearly executed in the form of a law. And the Federation Council (although it is rarely used) can block any law adopted by the Duma.

But it should be noted that there are also many supporters of the ban. In mid-November, Patriarch Kirill himself supported abortion restrictions.

– Thank God, different initiatives are appearing at the legislative level aimed at reducing the number of abortions. Not long ago, for example, a law was passed in Mordovia prohibiting incitement to abortion. I hope that this initiative will be supported in other regions and at the federal level,” said the Holiness of him.

The Patriarch mentioned the law that, since August, prohibits “abortion propaganda” in Mordovia. That is, the woman still has a formal opportunity, but doctors must do everything possible to dissuade her. A similar law was later adopted in the Tver region. Authorities in Crimea and the Kursk region stated that private clinics no longer terminate pregnancies on their territory.

But Matvienko explained why all these bans don’t actually work. According to her, Russia “already has an experience that ended with sad consequences: illegal service market, quality of caves, increased female mortality, we will definitely not go down this path.”

In fact, the number of abortions is decreasing even without any ban. If in the early 90s there were around a million a year, now there are 400 thousand.

And in general, practice shows that the ban on abortion does not lead to an increase in the birth rate. Just look at neighboring Poland. In recent years, the country has completely banned abortion twice, which has done nothing to increase long-term population growth. But, as Matvienko rightly pointed out, the number of female diseases is increasing. Because everyone tries to terminate a pregnancy prematurely using dangerous means.