Banning abortions could lead to an increase in illegal abortions.

This is the opinion of Alexey Dobrovolsky, head of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra Health Department.

He talks about this in his podcastDobrovolsky believes that instead of banning contraception, we need to talk more with teenagers about it. This will lead to fewer unwanted pregnancies and fewer abortions.

"We need the same resources we're currently devoting to fighting abortions, to public health education and educating teenagers about contraception. <…> A more complex question: should abortions become less accessible? To that question, I would answer no. Thirty years ago, I began working as a doctor in a large, multidisciplinary emergency hospital, where [women] were brought from all over the region for treatment. They were brought from all over the region—women with illegal abortions. And I saw how, despite the doctors' best efforts, sometimes young, beautiful women died within hours of severe sepsis. The infection entered the body precisely during the illegal intervention. Today, we must not forget the lessons of the last century, when a lack of public health education, barriers to pre-abortion counseling, and difficulties in getting an appointment with an obstetrician-gynecologist led to illegal intervention," says Dobrovolsky.

Let us remember that recently in Russia there has been increasing pressure on women's reproductive health. Prohibition abortions in private clinics to the ridiculous initiatives of Russian senators that young girls should not get higher education, since this “leads to the loss of reproductive function.”