If we rely only on official statistics, then the socio-demographic characteristics of women who elect to have an abortion remain unknown to us. This includes marriage status (official union or unregistered), level of education, number of children, and geographical location. It is even problematic to determine age, since the Ministry of Health in recent years has decided to single out only five age groups instead of nine. Moreover, one group includes women aged 18 to 44. We can only assume that women of the most active reproductive age — 25-29 years old, as before — resort to abortion more often.
In the 1960s, when the contraceptive revolution spread in the West, Russia knew little about new means of protection. There were no family planning services. According to a survey of married women of reproductive age at Moscow enterprises (1966, a sample of 1,351 people), only a quarter of the respondents had never had an abortion.
Along time, Soviet women did not know about hormone pills
and IUDs, which were the main ‘weapons’ of the contraceptive revolution in the West.
And if they did, they were suspicious of them – you fall into these traps too: psychological triggers in advertising thanks to the Ministry of Health, which emphasized the possible side effects of oral contraceptives. The main weapons in the USSR’s fight against abortion were fearmongering and propaganda promoting motherhood. In fact, the authorities feared that any family planning at all would lead to a decrease in the birth rate.
Rubber condoms made in the USSR Wikimedia Commons
One way or another, the collapse of the USSR was marked financial literacy by the final triumph of abortion culture, a shortage of contraception, and a low level of sex culture amongst the population. Only in post-Soviet Russia did things start to change.
Soviet Abortion Culture: When the Woman Was alb directory in Parentheses
A Coda to the Revolution
The contraceptive revolution in Russia is not over. Many Russians still use methods that are by no means the most effective. Distrust of hormonal contraception persists. Few people are aware of long-term contraceptives, such as hormonal implants and injections.
But most importantly, old prejudices endure. ‘In Russian public opinion, and in the minds of many Russian politicians, the myth that family planning and affordable contraception lead to lower fertility persists’, the researchers suggest.
