Novosibirsk, August 10, 2016
A round table entitled “Abortion and its state funding as factors undermining the sovereignty of Russia and threatening its national security,” was held on July 20 in Novosibirsk, reports “Russian Public Line.”
Representatives of traditional religious confessions, public organizations, political and patriotic movements, and specialists of aid professions providing services in the field of the protection of motherhood and childhood in Novosibirsk and the Novosibirsk Oblast, doctors, and the teaching and parental communities took part in the work of the round table.
The round table was held to support the appeal of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to the State Duma on January 22, 2015 to remove abortion from the compulsory medical insurance system and the Statement of the Interreligious Council of Russia “On the Protection of Unborn Children” of June 2, 2016.
Participants in the meeting noted that Russia is the world “leader” in number of abortions. According to official statistics of the Russian Federation’s Ministry of Health there were 746,736 unborn victims of abortion in 2015. However, according to independent expert evaluation, the real number reaches 5-8 million a year, as official statistics do not take into account abortions performed in private clinics.
Procedures for terminating pregnancy in state institution budgets are financed by funds from compulsory medical insurance. Only 3% of the total number of abortions are for medical or social reasons. Members of the round table consider it unacceptable to pay for abortions in the absence of any medical reason at taxpayer expense.
According to the participants, the question of increasing the population is one of the survival of a sovereign state. Therefore the issue of abortions in Russia due to its prevalence acquires in terms of the demographic crisis the character of a national threat. Some of the participants called for a legal approach to protecting the lives of unborn children, implemented in the legislation of a number of states, expressed in the recognition of the human right to life and the protection of this right from the moment of a child’s conception.
As a result of the open public discussion the organizers and participants of the round table resolved:
1. To support the appeal of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to the State Duma on January 22, 2015 to eliminate abortion from the compulsory medical insurance system and the Statement of the Interreligious Council of Russia “On the Protection of Unborn Children” of June 2, 2016;
2. To appeal to the legislative assembly of the Novosibirsk Oblast and to the regional heads of party factions, and also to legislative bodies of other subjects of the Siberian Federal District with a call to support the State Duma bill 796109-6 “On amendments to article 56 of the Federal law ‘On the foundations of healthcare for citizens of the Russian Federation’” currently under consideration, and particular legislative acts of the Russian Federation (on the removal of induced terminations of pregnancy from the system of compulsory medical insurance);
3. To appeal to the legislative assembly of the Novosibirsk Oblast and to the assemblies of other subjects of the Siberian Federal District with a call to develop regional legislation and targeted long-term programs aimed at reducing abortions and increasing the birthrate and population of Russia;
4. To hold an interreligious conference in Novosibirsk in November 2016 aimed at solving the demographic problem by reducing abortions and increasing the birthrate and population of Russia;
5. To charge the Coordinating Council with protecting public morality, culture, and traditional family values and to implement the appropriate measures for fulfilling the resolutions of the round table.
