More than 20 Russian regions to penalise “encouraging women to have abortions”
More than 20 Russian regions are introducing penalties for “encouraging women to have abortions”
01.09.2025
Article published on the moscowtimes.ru website
On 1 September, laws to prohibit “encouraging women to have abortions” came into force in the Bryansk and Kirov regions. According to the RBK, similar regulations are already in force in more than 20 Russian regions, including St Petersberg, Kaliningrad, Novgorod, Vologda, Pskov, Tver, Smolensk, Kursk, Oryol, Penza, Voronezh, Astrakhan, Kurgan and Omsk, as well as the republics of Mordovia and Komi, and the Khakassia, Krasnoyarsk, Zabaykalsky and Primorsky Krais. Similar legislation is currently under discussion in Tambov and the occupied territory of Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
“Encouraging women to have abortions” is defined as actions that “coerce a woman into ending her pregnancy” through persuasion, offers, bribery or deceit. However, these do not include providing medical reasons for having a termination.
The laws make provision for the imposition of fines on citizens, ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 roubles. For officials and legal entities the penalties are far higher and vary, depending on the region. The most restrictive measures are in place in the annexed territory of Crimea. For organisations, the fine can be between 200,000 and 500,000 roubles.
The tightening of restrictions reflect the worsening demographic crisis in Russia. According to Rosstat, in May this year, the overall birth rate fell to 1.376 children per woman, the lowest level since 2006. By contrast, in 2015 the rate was 1.76 and pre-war in 2021, 1.47. The decline began shortly after the annexation of Crimea, and over the decade the rate has fallen by 22%.
A birth rate of 2.1 is the minimum required to keep the population size stable, although, according to estimates from researchers at the Shizuoka University in Japan, the figure could even be 2.7 children per woman.
Last year there were just 1.222 million births in Russia – the lowest since 1999. This represents a 3.4% decline compared to 2023, a trend that continued during the first quarter of 2025 when 288,800 children were born (a fall of 4%), which, says the demographer Alexey Rakshi, is the lowest number since the 18-19th centuries.
The national “Demography” project launched in 2018 at the initiative of Vladimir Putin has failed to achieve its goals. From 2018-2023, mortality numbers exceeded births by 3.4 million people.
