The Kremlin has just announced on its Internet site that Vladimir Poutine has signed a draft bill imposing sanctions in the event of illegal abortion.
New legislation has applied in Russia since 12 January 2012: a woman can have an abortion within the 12-week limit provided that she has been informed of the consequences and has given her consent. In addition, she must be given a certain length of time in order to finalise her decision.
Oleg Filippov, Deputy Head of the Department for Paediatric and Obstetric Medical Care at the Ministry of Health specified that the number of abortions has recently decreased, falling from over one million to 880,000 per annum. However, the data do not include figures from private clinics – clinics which, according to recent suggestions, provide their statistics under penalty of sanctions, so that the government can have all abortion data on hand.
rapsinews.com 22/07/2014