TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Despite its last-minute scheduling, the meeting at a bookstore in Russia’s westernmost city of Kaliningrad still drew about 60 people, with many outraged by a lawmaker’s efforts to ban abortions in local private clinics.
The weeknight turnout surprised and heartened Dasha Yakovleva, one of the organizers, amid recent crackdowns on political activism under President Vladimir Putin.
“Right now, there is no room for political action in Russia. The only place left is our kitchens,” Yakovleva, co-founder of the Feminitive Community women’s group, told The Associated Press. “And here, it was a public place, well-known in Kaliningrad, and everyone spoke out openly about how they see this measure, why they think it’s unjustified, inappropriate.”
Although abortion is still legal and widely available in Russia, recent attempts to restrict it have touched a nerve across the increasingly conservative country. Activists are urging supporters to make official complaints, circulating online petitions and even staging small protests.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Despite its last-minute scheduling, the meeting at a bookstore in Russia’s westernmost city of Kaliningrad still drew about 60 people, with many outraged by a lawmaker’s efforts to ban abortions in local private clinics.
Nationwide, the Health Ministry has drawn up talking points for doctors to discourage women from terminating their pregnancies, and new regulations soon will make many emergency contraceptives virtually unavailable and drive up the cost of others.
“It’s important to understand that the pressure on women will be growing” even in the absence of a total ban, said Kaliningrad psychotherapist and activist Lina Zharin, who helped organize the recent bookstore meeting.
A document obtained by AP and cited by other media outlines language doctors are told to use, including saying pregnancy is “a beautiful and natural condition for every woman,” while an abortion is “harmful to your health and a risk of developing complications.”
Her program, which instructs doctors to congratulate women on being pregnant and gives baby-themed presents and information on support resources, has driven the abortion rate down 40% in Mordovia, she and local officials said.
Dr. Lyubov Yeroveyeva, a gynecologist who spearheaded family planning projects in the 1990s, believes the key is preventing unwanted pregnancies with education about birth control and making contraceptives widely available.
The original article contains 1,506 words, the summary contains 215 words. Saved 86%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
In Russia, that bastion of free thought and autonomy?
gotta replace all those kids sent to die in Ukraine, after all. can’t have women not raising soldiers, after all.
No different than the US. More meat for the grinder. Russia’s meat grinder is an incinerator while the US just lets meat spin until its rancid and worthless and then throws it away.
I wonder how people will manage to blame america for this.
Had the US not intervened, Russia could’ve taken as many “cattle” as they wanted from Ukraine.
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Aww. Have the people in your imagination upset you again?
US set an example 😁
Russia must be a pretty weak country if they look up to America for every single thing.
We always look up to America 🤷♂️
Crazy I always thought of Russia as so progressive /s
So I’m all for women’s rights, and it’s good that Russians are upset about this, but like… really? This is the thing that gets you upset at your government, after all it’s done and is doing these days?
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Yeah, I remember when they did that a while back.
The human wave attacks and forced births will continue until morale improves
“takes a conservative turn” - how to spot a journalist who learned about russia yesterday.
I read it in one of the monty python actors voice.
