2024-01-21 17:21:37
In Russia, Vladimir Putin has in recent weeks relaunched the debate on voluntary terminations of pregnancies by describing them as a “serious problem”. The government wants to complicate access to abortion to tackle the major demographic crisis affecting the country.
If the Russian president has relaunched the debate on abortion, it is because the birth crisis worsened with Covid and then the war. In Kazan, on the banks of the Volga, the political debate has become public. He animates passions, something rare in Russia.
In the suburbs of Kazan, Radmira, a psychologist, supports women who wish to have an abortion in a shelter for women in difficulty. His goal: to change their minds.
“Most of the women who come think they have already made their decision and say ‘I won’t change my mind’. We do several consultations to understand why they want to abort and to explain to them that in reality they have no problem “, she explained on Saturday in the 7:30 p.m.
A week of compulsory reflection
Pregnant women have a week of reflection imposed and Radmira has no shortage of techniques to encourage them to keep their baby: “We also perform an ultrasound in 3D format. We show the woman that the baby already has its little arms, its little legs, that he already understands everything and that he is big. Therefore, it is impossible to stop the pregnancy, whatever the delay.”
In this region, politician Irina Volynets is fighting to limit access to abortion. She believes that the issue is as much demographic as it is patriotic.
And to explain: “A man cannot have the motivation to take up arms if his homeland is in danger and defend it if he has no family, no children. So, who to fight for? Who to defend So? A man who goes to defend his loved ones, his friends, his parents, his children: that’s true patriotism.”
Angry women
The subject is debated in the country. Hundreds of letters from angry women were sent to the Russian parliament and governors. In Kazan, women even took the risk of demonstrating, supervised by the police.
For her part, Maria, forced to abort for medical reasons because her fetus was not viable, anonymously denounces – for fear of reprisals – the activism of certain doctors of which she was a victim. His commitment goes beyond the subject of abortion and takes a political turn.
“When you know that what awaits your child is perhaps to die in a trench, you think 1000 times before making one.”
Maria, an anonymous Russian witness
“In a normal state, women more often choose to keep their babies. But in our country, when you know that what awaits your child is perhaps to die in a trench, you think a thousand times before to make one.”
Vladimir Putin announced that 2024 would be the year of the family. A way to encourage Russian women to participate in the war effort by having children.
Subject TV: Alexandra Dalsbaek
Adaptation web: Julien Furrer
1705859861
#Vladimir #Putin #relaunches #debate #problem #abortion #face #drop #birth #rate #rts.ch