Draft legislation in Russia would require women to notify their husbands — sometimes even their ex-husbands — before terminating a pregnancy
Men’s rights?
In March 2026, the State Duma will consider a bill requiring a wife to notify her husband (including an ex-husband) if she plans to terminate a pregnancy.
A new health code
Lawmakers want to amend the section on artificial termination of pregnancy in the federal law “On the Fundamentals of Health Protection of Citizens.” The draft legislation would create the following language:
Each woman independently decides whether to become a mother. Artificial termination of pregnancy is carried out at the woman’s request with the presence of [her] informed voluntary consent and notification of the spouse, if the woman is married, and also notification of her ex-husband if the divorce occurred within the previous twelve weeks.
Blessed are the ex-husbands
The bill contains a limitation: the notification requirement applies only if the divorce occurred fewer than three months prior. Apparently, the assumption is that the only man who could have fathered a child during this time is the woman’s former husband.
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And what’s the point of all this?
Lawmakers believe this will help reduce the number of abortions in Russia. In the bill’s explanatory note, they state:
The question of artificial termination of pregnancy is among those questions that should be decided by spouses jointly.
In accordance with Part 2 of Article 31 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation, issues of motherhood, fatherhood, upbringing, children’s education, and other matters of family life are decided jointly by spouses, based on the principle of spousal equality.
[…]
The introduction of a procedure for notifying the spouse will have a positive influence on the number of decisions women make regarding artificial termination of pregnancy.
Lawmakers point out that other countries have similar requirements.
Other countries do this?! Is that true?
Yes, and in some countries, a woman even needs her partner’s permission. For example, in Japan, sterilization or termination of a pregnancy is carried out only with the partner’s consent. The same is true in Turkey. There are 15 such countries in total (in 10 of them, the majority religion is Islam), and there used to be even more.
But the global trend favors reproductive rights
The restrictions Russian lawmakers will consider might indeed reduce the country’s number of abortions, but only because it makes access more difficult, not because it makes the decision to give birth more conscious or the child more wanted. The World Health Organization has long insisted that countries allow women to make their own decisions — without third-party involvement. The United Nations considers the requirement to obtain a husband’s consent a form of discrimination.
Furthermore, domestic violence is one of the reasons a woman may need to terminate a pregnancy without notifying her partner. In Japan, where the law is quite conservative, legislators made an exception precisely for such situations. A marriage may involve reproductive coercion, rape may occur, and obtaining a divorce, even if a woman manages to leave, can be very difficult. In other words, the new Russian bill will primarily harm women who face violence from their partners.