From Stalin to Putin, abortion has had a complicated history in Russia
Associated Press
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FILE - Soviet leader Josef Stalin raises his right hand in salute while reviewing a May Day Parade in Red Square in Moscow, on May 1, 1946. Abortions were banned under Stalin but became commonplace under later Kremlin leaders. Under President Vladimir Putin, who has forged a has forged a powerful alliance with the Russian Orthodox Church, now promotes "traditional values" and seeks to boost population growth, officials are considering restricting access to abortion once again. (AP Photo, File)FILE - In this handout photo released by Russian Orthodox Church Press Service, Patriarch Kirill, center, speaks prior to a concert celebrating the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture in Red Square in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 24, 2023. Although abortion in Russia is still legal and widely available, new restrictions are being considered as President Vladimir Putin takes an increasingly socially conservative turn and seeks to reverse the country's declining population. (Sergey Vlasov, Russian Orthodox Church Press Service via AP, File)FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Health Minister Mikhail Murashko, visit the Federal Children's Rehabilitation Centre of the Russian Children's Clinical Hospital under Pirogov National Medical Research University, in Podolsk, 36 kilometers (22.5 miles) south of Moscow, Russia, Thursday, June 1, 2023. Although abortion in Russia is still legal and widely available, new restrictions are being considered as Putin takes an increasingly socially conservative turn and seeks to reverse the country's declining population. (Sergey Fadeichev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin attends midnight Mass at Russian Orthodox Christmas in a church in the village of Turginovo, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) northwest of Turginovo, Russia, early Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016. Although abortion in Russia is still legal and widely available, new restrictions are being considered as Putin takes an increasingly socially conservative turn and seeks to reverse the country's declining population. (Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)FILE - Russian Orthodox believers hold Bibles as they line up to kiss the relics of St. Nicholas in Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, Russia, on Friday, May 26, 2017. Although abortion in Russia is still legal and widely available, new restrictions are being considered as President Vladimir Putin forges closer ties with the Russian Orthodox Church and takes an increasingly socially conservative turn while seeking to reverse the country's declining population. (AP Photo, File)FILE - The Kremlin leadership including Mikhail S. Solomentsev, Viktor V. Grishin, Andrei A. Gromyko, Mikhail S. Gorbachev and Nikolai A. Tikhonov, attends a Women's Day gala, on March 7, 1985, at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, although President Konstantin U. Chernenko was absent. Abortion has a complicated history in the Soviet Union and Russia. It was outlawed under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in 1936 but was legalized and became commonplace under later Kremlin leaders. Under Gorbachev's reforms, a movement for family planning and adequate birth control was launched in the late 1980s by physicians who were mostly women. (AP Photo, File)FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, and Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova, right of him, pose for a photo during a visit to a new maternity center in Bryansk, some 350 kilometers (218 miles) southwest of Moscow, Russia, on March 8, 2017. Abortion has had a complicated history in Russia. Once banned under Soviet leader Josef Stalin, abortion is now legal and widely available, but restrictions are being considered as Putin takes an increasingly socially conservative turn and seeks to reverse Russia's declining population. (Alexei Druzhinin/Pool Photo via AP, File)FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, surrounded by children, lights a candle during Russian Orthodox Christmas celebrations in a cathedral in the Siberian city of Yakutsk, on Jan. 6, 2006. Although abortion in Russia is still legal and widely available, new restrictions are being considered as Putin takes an increasingly socially conservative turn and seeks to reverse the country's declining population. (Sergei Guneyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)FILE - People light candles during an anti-abortion service in an Orthodox church in Vladivostok, in Russia's Far East, Thursday, May 31, 2007. Although abortion in Russia is still legal and widely available, new restrictions are being considered as President Vladimir Putin takes an increasingly socially conservative turn and seeks to reverse the country's declining population. (AP Photo, File)FILE - Two pregnant women undergo an examination in a family planning center in the city of Yekaterinburg on July 23, 2003. Russian women in the 1990s used abortion as a primary method of birth control. Although it is still legal and widely available, new restrictions are being considered as President Vladimir Putin takes an increasingly socially conservative turn and seeks to reverse the country's declining population. (AP Photo/Ural Press Photo, File)FILE - Members of religious branch of pro-Kremlin movement Nashi (Ours) place a poster behind a symbolic cemetery in Moscow on Monday, Jan. 28, 2008, as they protest abortion in Russia. The writing on the crosses refers to various professions. Although abortion in Russia is still legal and widely available, new restrictions are being considered as President Vladimir Putin takes an increasingly socially conservative turn and seeks to reverse the country's declining population. (AP Photo, File)FILE - In this handout photo released by the press service of the State Duma, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, center, flanked by Vyacheslav Volodin, left, speaker of the Lower House of Parliament, and Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the State Duma's International Affairs Committee, right, arrives to address lawmakers in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. Although abortion in Russia is still legal and widely available, new restrictions are being considered as President Vladimir Putin takes an increasingly socially conservative turn and seeks to reverse the country's declining population. (The State Duma, The Federal Assembly of The Russian Federation Press service via AP, File)FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, meets with Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, July 12, 2023. Although abortion in Russia is still legal and widely available, new restrictions are being considered as Putin takes an increasingly socially conservative turn and seeks to reverse the country's declining population. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
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FILE - Soviet leader Josef Stalin raises his right hand in salute while reviewing a May Day Parade in Red Square in Moscow, on May 1, 1946. Abortions were banned under Stalin but became commonplace under later Kremlin leaders. Under President Vladimir Putin, who has forged a has forged a powerful alliance with the Russian Orthodox Church, now promotes "traditional values" and seeks to boost population growth, officials are considering restricting access to abortion once again. (AP Photo, File)