Russian city observes 'week without abortion' as country battles population crisis

[Athanasiy]

Novorossiysk, November 26 (CNA).-Authorities in the southern Russian city of Novorossiysk have scheduled a “week without abortion” in an effort to combat the country’s extremely high abortion rate.

During the weeklong event that began on Monday, doctors will not perform abortions in all but “the most extreme cases,” RussiaToday.com reports. The city’s maternity welfare center will hold open houses with information seminars on family planning as psychologists and gynecologists work with pregnant women to help prepare them for motherhood.

A hotline for pregnant women will also operate during the week, putting them in contact with gynecological experts in Novorossiysk.

“Doctors will do everything they can to stop women from doing the irreparable,” a city administration representative told RussiaToday.com.

The city’s universities will also screen films demonstrating the detrimental effects of abortion.

Russia’s abortion rate is among the highest in the world, with nearly 70 percent of pregnancies ending in an abortion. The Western Europe abortion rate is about 12 per 1,000 women per year, while in Russia that figure is 54 per 1,000, according to U.N. records on abortion rates.

In 2004 there were 100,000 more abortions than births.

Further, about 10 to 15 percent of abortions in Russia have complications, leaving about 8 percent of women sterile.

Novorossiysk’s “week without abortion” was timed to coincide with the Russian Day of Motherhood, scheduled annually for the last Sunday of November. City authorities have also dedicated a day to “child making,” ensuring people a shorter work day once a year to improve the demographic situation in the country.

The Russian government declared 2008 to be the “Year of the Family” to combat demographic decline. What RussiaToday.com called the “propaganda of abortions and their advertising” has recently been banned in the Russian media.

Despite welfare payments for childbirth, improvements in the healthcare system, and public service announcements to boost the birthrate, recent reports indicate the government policies have had little effect.

 

[KathleenElsie]

IMHO I believe they need a lot more then one day. How about not doing then from now till the second coming of Christ?

 

[dove51]

Interesting. I have heard some other things about Russia’s declining population, even something about the government paying women to get pregnant.

I wonder, though, why is abortion so high there? What is the cause of it?

 

[Formosus]

Interesting. I have heard some other things about Russia’s declining population, even something about the government paying women to get pregnant.

I wonder, though, why is abortion so high there? What is the cause of it?

My guess is 70ish years of an anti religious government

If they want to “raise population” then why don’t they just outlaw abortion all together and provide these other services as a regular state expense?

 

[turtle18]

The Blessed Mother asked us to pray for the conversion of Russia at Fatima. Perhaps we stopped praying when we shouldn’t have.

 

[Nicholas82]

The Blessed Mother asked us to pray for the conversion of Russia at Fatima. Perhaps we stopped praying when we shouldn’t have.

If you believe in that sort of thing. As a Roman Catholic I wasn’t obligated to and I’m certainly not now. By all means however continue to pray for the conversion of Russians. Pray for the conversion of all peoples to Christ!

 

[KathleenElsie]

The Blessed Mother asked us to pray for the conversion of Russia at Fatima. Perhaps we stopped praying when we shouldn’t have.

Who stopped praying? Most people I know pray for the whole world with Russia and the USA as the main parts.

 

[Diak]

Interesting. I have heard some other things about Russia’s declining population, even something about the government paying women to get pregnant.

I wonder, though, why is abortion so high there? What is the cause of it?

Russia has become a very secularized country after the fall of the USSR. Why? The same reasons why abortion is so popular in other countries - a secularized and materialistic view of life.

 

[rad]

Russia has become a very secularized country after the fall of the USSR. Why? The same reasons why abortion is so popular in other countries - a secularized and materialistic view of life.

Russia has been slowly, very slowly, winding back its abortion rate and is one of the few countries in the world which has introduced legislation toughening up abortion laws.

I was astounded to read yesterday, in connection with the International Day of Violence Against Women, that Spain now has a skyrocketing abortion rate.

“Abortion Now Number One Cause of Death in Spain”

lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/nov/08112802.html

New report reveals immense toll taken by abortion in formerly Catholic country

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

 

[Volodymyr]

RUSSIAN ORTHODOX PRO-LIFE CENTER

ЦЕНТР ЖИЗНЬ
Medical Education Center, LIFE

Priest Maksim Obukhov has a wonderful center for pro-life abortion information in Moskow at center Life. He has many wonderful publications and those supporting large families.
His site in English language:

life.orthomed.ru/zhizn/english/index.htm

 

[Diak]

Russia has been slowly, very slowly, winding back its abortion rate and is one of the few countries in the world which has introduced legislation toughening up abortion laws.

Yes but it is still very accessible and still higher than the US rate. I’ve seen independent estimates anywhere from 2 to four times the US rate. Human Life International estimated more babies were killed than allowed to be born in 2006 alone. That has not happened in the US even at the peak of abortion (which was about one in three as I recall).

The abortion rate in the US has also gone down the last few years as well, but it is certainly not attributable to the legal system.

 

[Dale_M]

I wonder, though, why is abortion so high there? What is the cause of it?

I don’t really know, but a RAND study suggests two reasons.
Part of it seems to be a cultural legacy of the Soviet years.

Two influences have worked to keep Russian abortion rates high. First, Soviet ideology hindered the development and spread of effective contraception. Soviet ideology held that declining fertility rates were not typical of socialism and that socialist economic improvement would yield higher birth rates and lower abortion rates. Such views resulted in little effort to develop or distribute modern contraceptives

The second reason seems to be related to the profitability of abortion.

Second, both Soviet and Russian medical professionals have faced incentives that kept abortion rates high. Until the late 1980s, obtaining a legal abortion required a subsequent three-day hospital stay, a boon to Soviet hospitals financed by their number of occupied beds. Even today, profits from the procedure are an incentive for low-paid physicians in post-Soviet Russia to perform abortions rather than to encourage contraception.

se of contraception, particularly of permanent methods, remains lower in Russia than in many other nations. Voluntary sterilization, for example, is relatively rare in Russia, where, between 1991 and 1998, about 90,000 women obtained it. By contrast, voluntary sterilization is the main method of fertility regulation in the United States, where one in four women of childbearing age, and nearly half of all women between 35 and 44, opt for it.
rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB5055/index1.html

 

[gthever]

70% of all babies in Russia get aborted. I think it’s a general breaking down of Russian society.

Secularism, Alcoholism, non-religious, lack of economic opportunity, sudden fall of life expectancy of Russian males.

The causes are many, but the solutions are few. There was a survey of Russia in last week’s Economist, specifically one about the declining population. It was pretty information and spoke a lot about the host of problems post-Soviet Russia is facing.

 

[Athanasiy]

70 % of pregnancies which end up by abortions - it’s a dreadful statistics.
The reason this , I think because many young people do not have the values.
Do not have the life values.
Also the poverty. The young families do not have access to a shelter and steady work.
But , what I think is , on one side you see the economic difficulties , but with the other side you see a lot of young people in the cafes and bars , and some of them are going there every evening.
The people complain about the life difficulties , but for many of them the life is not so financially difficult as it imagined.
And I personally think that economic crisis should be in some way even helpful to solve the countries demography problem , because there will be no money for the man to go out , and to look for adventures aside.

I think this week of abortion is a good example and encouragement to practice as an example , for the communities of another countries as well.

The week without abortions in Russia could be the first step , which requires the further steps .

In Russia , the same as in Ukraine , whether the people believe in God or not - there is a serious demography problem .
And there must be the best solution to solve this demography problem.
For example in Poland , as it seen , may be more richer young people go to commit abortion to the West Europe , more poor go to Ukraine , but many young people still decide not to commit abortion , and to be the mothers.
( God Bless Poland ! )
As I said , if the people believe in God or not believe in God (but I think in this part of the world the absolute majority of people believe in God ) the politicians should understand this serious demography problem.
And it’s a lot depends from the government .
If the young girl knows that when she will be a mother , she will get a financial support from the government , then it would work out much better , even if her boy friend or husband is opposing .
I think generally Russia does much better job , rising the birth rate comparably with Ukraine.
And the country indeed expects the baby boost this year.
The time has come in Ukraine , when the government started to encourage the families to have a children by offering more financial help , and even if mostly in majority the low class people decided to have more children , still generally – it started to work out , and not only for the low class people .
Of course , the abortion statistics is very high , but I personally would determine the main problems are - insufficient economic conditions , and also the absence of life values among the young people .

More actions of the Church are needed , more voice of the Christians , more pro-life programs on the television.

You see that TV promotes , very often - too cheep human worth.
You can see it by watching the TV programs ; humor programs , musical or youth amusements programs .
Many of these programs simply insult the feelings not only Christian but insult the feelings of a normal person.
The programs which disfigure and vulgarize the people’s values.
And forming - totally not responsible human beings.
Therefore the young people prefer to have easy , careless life .
More money , more fun , more independence and security.
No responsibility for the woman , and of course the man do not feel responsible.

Also , if I am not mistaking , the Soviet Union was the first country which implanted abortions.
For many women , during two generations , to commit abortion is the same as to go to a dentist.
What the mother can advise her daughter who commits
abortions , if the mother her self used to do it during her life ?

 

[Dan-Man916]

I think it’s sad that this situation even got to this point that a “week without abortion” had to occur.
it is amazing, the depths of sin, that society falls into.

 

[manualman]

I don’t really know, but a RAND study suggests two reasons.
Part of it seems to be a cultural legacy of the Soviet years.

The second reason seems to be related to the profitability of abortion.

rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB5055/index1.html

C’mon Dale, THINK! Russia not only has one of the highest abortion rates, it has one of the lowest birthrates. BOTH of those are symptoms of the same underlying issue: the legacy of Soviet atheistic materialism.

More contraceptive distribution is NOT going to lead to a healthier birthrate.

 

[livi]

abortions should not be performed anywhere, ever, under any circumstances.

 

[LynnGM]

I, too, have always thought that Russia’s high rate of abortions was the result of the Soviet mentality.