Vladimir Putin has signed a controversial law making it an offence to advocate for child-free lifestyles, or spreading “child-free propaganda” as it is known in Russia, according to a document published by the official Russian legal portal on Saturday.
The legislation amended six existing laws prohibiting the promotion of “paedophilia, LGBT and gender reassignment” to include a ban on the “dissemination of destructive content that promotes the deliberate refusal to have children”.
Individuals spreading “child-free propaganda” in broadcast media or online will now face fines of up to 400,000 rubles (€3,840), while companies can be fined as much as 5 million rubles (€48,000) for the same offence, and foreign citizens will face deportation.
The bill, introduced to the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, in late September, was adopted by the chamber on 12 November and approved by the Federation Council, the upper house, on Wednesday.
Only one senator, Lyudmila Narusova, voted against the bill, while senator Andrey Klishas, who voted in favour of the bill, nevertheless expressed concerns about the potentially “inconsistent enforcement” of the legislation.
Senate speaker Valentina Matviyenko admitted during the hearing on Wednesday that “concerns have been raised about the interpretation of the new norms”, adding that it was necessary to ensure there was no “distortion” of the “basic underlying meanings” of the law.
The law should “in no way infringe” on the right of every adult Russian to “make a responsible decision” and should “in no way” discriminate against a family that “cannot have children … or doesn’t want to have children,” which Matviyenko said was “their right”.
Nevertheless, the law does not provide clear examples of “child-free propaganda”, only clarifying that those living child-free lifestyles in religious communities will be exempt from prosecution.
The legislation caused some online communities to close even before it was signed into law. In late October, Maternal Bliss, a VK community with nearly 150,000 subscribers where mothers anonymously spoke about the challenges of motherhood, removed all its posts to avoid being charged under the new law.
Lawyer Daryana Gryaznova told independent news outlet Takiye Dela in October that the “child-free propaganda” law infringed on “a whole host” of women’s rights, including freedom of speech and reproductive freedom. “We will simply come to the point where it will be impossible to have an honest and open conversation about motherhood, about women’s reproductive rights,” she cautioned.