Abortions are few and far between, but there are fewer and fewer pregnant women: bans in the Vologda region do not help demography

Statistics on pregnant women were published by Alexei Kanaev, a State Duma deputy from the Vologda region and an opponent of the governor. He "forced" the figures out of the regional Ministry of Health, with the help of the prosecutor's office. 

It turned out that the fight against abortions launched by Governor Georgy Filimonov did not improve the birth rate situation at all - on the contrary, pregnant women were registered gets up lessIn the first seven months of 2024, 4336 women registered. In the same period this year, the number was 4198. 

Earlier, the governor boasted, that the number of abortions in the Vologda region dropped to zero in July. According to his data, there were 12 in April, 9 in May, and 7 in June.

Kanaev explains, “Where then did the hundreds of lost abortions go?”  

"Some women, without contacting medical officials, traveled to other regions, for example, to the Yaroslavl region. Some received care at private centers under the guise of another medical procedure. And a third group—some hospitals, to avoid problems and the attention of the prosecutor's office, reclassify induced abortions as "health-related."

Demographer Alexei Raksha commented on the deputy's post and added that women have also begun to use more careful contraception due to fear of potential problems in the event of an unwanted pregnancy. 

"Further confirmation of the lack of a significant impact of abortion restrictions/bans on the birth rate," Raksha wrote. 

Filimonov began his active campaign against abortion in February. He insisted on banning abortions on a woman's request in both public and private clinics. said, which takes "every abortion case under control." All this is for the sake of overcoming the demographic crisis in the Russian North and supporting traditional values.