More and more Russians reject abortion

That is shown by research from the Russian Agency VTsIOM. Many abortions take place in Russia. Half of the 1600 survey participants noted that they had been confronted with the termination of a pregnancy one way or the other.

About 38 per cent of men and 60 per cent of women indicated that someone in their friend circle had had an abortion. One out of three women acknowledged that she had an abortion herself. In 2016, only 9 per cent of the women admitted to having had an abortion. However, the research agency notes that this increase can also result from increased openness on the topic of abortion.

According to VTsIOM, thrice as many Russians object to abortion in all circumstances compared to 6 years ago. In 2015, 5 per cent of the Russians rejected abortion. Now 13 per cent shares the opinion that terminating a pregnancy is always unacceptable. That is reported by Interfax. About 43 per cent of the respondents find abortion justified if the pregnancy threatens the mother's life.

At the same time, the pro-choice group in Russia is also growing. In 2016, 28 per cent of the Russian population believed that women should be able to choose an abortion independently. In 2022, this group had grown to 36 per cent.

VTsIOM concludes that the Russian public opinion has shifted from seeing abortion as a state issue to perceiving it as a woman's personal choice. The recent survey shows that about 51 per cent of the Russians oppose state interference in the matter of abortion and sees family planning and abortion as the private sphere of citizens.