1. The future of abortions in Russia Victoria Sakevich, Institute of Demography, State University - Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia Boris Denisov, Laboratory of Population Economics and Demography, Moscow State University, Russia European Population Conference 2008, Barcelona, July 10, 2008

2. European Population Conference 2008 Abortion rate in some countries (per 1,000 women aged 15-44 years), last available data

3. European Population Conference 2008 Abortion dynamics, the Russian Federation. 1959-2006 5.6 mln. 4.6 mln. 1.6 mln. Source: official statistics. TAR: 1991 – 3.4 2006 – 1.4

4. European Population Conference 2008 Age-specific abortion rates in Russia and some other countries (last available data)

5. European Population Conference 2008 Proportion of women who had no pregnancies (1) and no abortions (2) by the time of interview, %. Russian Generations and Gender survey (RusGGS-2004) Per woman aged 18 - 49: 2.6 pregnancies 1.3 abortions

6. European Population Conference 2008 Distribution of women aged 40-49 by abortions during their lives, %. RusGGS-2004

7. European Population Conference 2008 Russian Generations and Gender survey - 2004 : Do you agree with the statement: «Abortions without medical indications should be restricted or forbidden by law»? 11261 respondents from 18 to 80 years

8. European Population Conference 2008 Answers, %FemalesMales Both sexes strongly agree, agree 434845 neither agree nor disagree 212523 disagree, strongly disagree 362632 Total100

9. European Population Conference 2008 «Abortions without medical indications should be restricted or forbidden by law»

10. European Population Conference 2008 «Abortions without medical indications should be restricted or forbidden by law»

11. European Population Conference 2008 «Abortions without medical indications should be restricted or forbidden by law» strongly agree, agree  Moslems (57%)  “Strong” Orthodox believers (51%)  Lower educational level (51%)  Residents of countryside (48%)  Large parent family (48%)  Having 3 and more children (48%) disagree, strongly disagree  Women younger 50 performed at least one abortion (40%) (performed 3+ – 46%)  Moscow and Saint- Petersburg (40%)  Higher education (38%)

12. European Population Conference 2008 Summary «The abortion culture» of Soviet times is being destroyed. The significant part of the Russian population disapproves abortion. It might be regarded as a favorable environment for further reduction of its level. At the same time transition to modern type of fertility regulation, with minimum number of undesired and mistimed pregnancies, stays far from end. Russian authorities, instead of promoting sex education and family planning services, tend to restrict access to abortion which could be harmful to public health. Unfortunately, a big part of population might support an abortion ban.

13. European Population Conference 2008 Acknowledgements  Higher School of Economics  UNFPA office in Moscow