The State Duma Committee on Health Protection, the parliamentary body that advises the government on healthcare legislation, has come out against proposed legislation that would ban abortions in private clinics, Russian business daily Vedomosti reported on Sunday.
State Duma Deputy Alexey Kurinny of the Communist Party told Telegram channel Beware Media on Monday that only individual members of the State Duma Health Protection Committee had voiced their opposition to the proposed ban on abortions in private clinics, rather than the committee as a whole.
Deputy Sergey Leonov of the Liberal Democratic Party confirmed that while the committee had sent a letter to State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin on the matter, no overall position on banning abortions in private clinics had been expressed.
“Therefore, saying that the committee is against [the proposed ban] is a misinterpretation of the letter. That’s all I can say.”
Noting that limiting abortions required “careful consideration and a balanced assessment” in order to prevent “criminal involvement”, the committee proposed introducing “a system of pre-abortion counselling”.
According to the committee, approximately 47,000 women a year — almost one in four — women in Russia who reconsider their decision to terminate a pregnancy do so after “pre-abortion counselling”.
The committee also recommended “promoting positive attitudes to reproduction in women”, raising awareness of state support and monitoring the work of private clinics.
