Press Release, 1.05.2025

Photo: Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg / Photo by the Press Service of the St.Petersburg Legislative Assembly

The Yabloko faction in the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly did not support the bill, which introduces administrative liability for “committing actions with the purpose of forcing a pregnant woman to artificially terminate a pregnancy by persuasion, proposals, bribery, or deception”.

The bill runs that a women in St. Petersburg are not capable of making independent responsible decisions. The second absurd point is that abortions are allowed in Russia, but the bill establishes punishment for “inducement” to commit a lawful act that is not prohibited by law – this is legal nonsense.

“A woman is not an incubator, and she makes a decision about motherhood taking into account all the circumstances, including the opinion of her loved ones. Article 23 of the Constitution proclaims the right to privacy, personal and family secrets. Isn’t the issue of having a child purely personal, concerning a specific person and a specific family?” Deputy Head of the Yabloko faction Olga Shtannikova asked the Assembly a rhetorical question.

The fact that the bill needs corrections is also recognised by the legal department of the parliament. Thus, artificial termination of pregnancy is permitted by the federal law “On the Fundamentals of Health Protection of Citizens in the Russian Federation” (Article 56), and the bill under discussion establishes liability for inducement to commit a lawful act not prohibited by law. This is legal nonsense.

The question arises while reading the bill: what is prohibited in St. Petersburg – inducement that took place on the territory of St. Petersburg, or artificial termination of pregnancy as a consequence of inducement?

If someone persuaded a pregnant woman from St.Petersburg to terminate a pregnancy in a country house in the Leningrad Region or another region, is this no longer prohibited?

It seems that the authors also do not understand what they want to prohibit. It is important for them that in the context of Russia’s demographic policy aimed at increasing the birth rate, their names, the word “prohibition” and the word “abortion” are on the same line. They do not think about the health of St. Petersburg women, and especially about children.