Abortion Foes Seek New Ground in Russia

A New Obstacle in Providing Reproductive Health Care to Russian Women

by Ellen Dorsch and Jen Peterson

During a recent trip to Moscow to complete a final review of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England's (PPNNE) partnership project with the Russian Family Planning Association (RFPA), the issue of the "opposition" became a common topic of conversation. This growing movement, which overtly and vocally opposes sex education and contraception as well as abortion, is comprised of the Russian Orthodox Church, ex-Communists and private groups funded by US and European-based anti-abortion groups.

All of the RFPA's six regional directors spoke about their experiences with these groups and the increasing amount of time they spend trying to counter the negative publicity they are receiving. The regional director from Novosibirsk told us she spends about 70 percent of her time countering their efforts. Another regional director told us that the deputy minister of education in her oblast is being overwhelmed with material from anti-abortion groups. Under the old political system, he was told what to think; now the "opposition" is telling him what to think. Although the regional director has given him information about the benefits of family planning and sex education, the "opposition's" message is simpler and he feels it would be easier to tell them he agrees with them so they will leave him alone.

These issues resurfaced repeatedly during the trip. While preparing the interpreter for the RFPA workshop, Ellen told her that there would not be many technical terms used. Ironically, she told us not to worry-she had recently interpreted a week-long seminar sponsored by a pro-life group. There were a number of doctors from the US who spoke in technical terms and she greatly increased her vocabulary at that meeting. We also learned from two noted Russian sexologists about recent attempts by such groups to undermine a UNICEF funded program to develop a sex education curriculum for youth.

Current Cultural Context

There are a number of reasons that the "opposition" has the potential to limit access to reproductive health care and information.

·Currently, the Russian death rate is higher than the birth rate. Life expectancy for Russians has decreased simultaneously with the decreasing birth rate. Both of these factors have resulted in a sharp drop in population.

·In contrast to the declining Russian birthrate, ethnic minority populations are growing in Russia and with this growth have come tensions between ethnic groups. As these groups compete for limited resources in an increasingly difficult economic climate, nationalist politicians may be swayed by arguments that limiting access to family planning and contraception will ensure a Russian majority population.

·Historically in Russia, legalizing and criminalizing abortion has been used as a political tool to respond to rising and falling birth rates. Russian women are complacent about an issue they feel disempowered to address.

·Some people argue that abortion is a vestige of Communism and is suspect, while Communists argue that the West has introduced pornography and immorality into Russia, and sex education and contraception are means to increase such immorality. The opposition to family planning and sex education as a threat from the West is alarming and deserves attention.

·Finally, in Russia as in many cultures, sexuality is an uncomfortable topic of discussion. Under the Communist regime, information and education about sexuality and reproductive health were banned. For 70 years, Russians have had no access to information or counseling about their sexuality and reproductive health. As a result, most parents and teachers are very reluctant to talk to their children and students about sex. When they do, they are often misinformed with outdated information about contraception.

What's Needed?

Since there is no tradition of advocacy and grassroots organizing in Russia, much work needs to be done to build a counter-effort to the "opposition." The effort needs to be proactive rather than a defensive response. RFPA staff and other family planning professionals need the skills and resources to influence the public and political decision makers and create a climate of support for family planning before the "opposition" can succeed in stripping away women's right to control their own lives.

At the request of the RFPA regional directors, our final workshop was devoted to discussion of this issue and creating an outline for an outreach strategy. Three major components of this strategy are to identify individuals and organizations across Russia who want to work together with the RFPA to build leadership and advocacy skills, research public understanding and support for family planning issues, and design and implement a multi-faceted advocacy campaign using appropriate messages based on the research work. Ideally, this advocacy campaign would take place on several levels-grassroots, political, legal, and mass media-in a comprehensive effort to foster broad support for reproductive and sexual health care that preserves and encourages individual choice.

Clearly, the RFPA cannot do this alone-there are other Russian organizations to enlist in this campaign. However, the RFPA has in place six regional centers, and its staff members are respected physicians and leaders who have a strong commitment to making services and reproductive health information available. They are asking for technical support from the West (they mistakenly think we have solved this problem); we don't want to disappoint them.

Ellen Dorsch and Jen Peterson work on PPNNE's international programs.

Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, 51 Talcott Road, Williston, VT 05495; phone: (802) 878-7232, fax: (802) 878-8001; e-mail: jenp@ppnne.org