In this region of Russia, four in five abortion clinics refuse to provide medical abortions

According to RIA Kursk reports, citing the region’s deputy head Andrei Belostotsky, four out of five private clinics with a license to perform medical abortions in the Kursk region have now refused to do so.

“We are the second subject of the Russian Federation, where commercial health care organizations have refused the license clause on chemically-induced pregnancy termination. And now about 92% of women who decide to terminate a pregnancy will be in state clinics, where we are actively working with them,” Belostotsky said.

He explained that state clinics “conduct questionnaires to find out the grounds on which women have made the decision to obtain an abortion, help them, and give them time to think.”

“Currently, it is possible to save the life of every third child from abortion. According the region’s demographic policy strategy up to 2025, the figure should be 40%,” Belostotsky said. He added that the fifth clinic, which still performs abortions, will soon abandon the practice.

In turn, Vladimir Pavlovsky, chief doctor of the health and rehabilitation center “Atlant”, which has refused to perform medical abortions, said that the organization made the decision “independently”: “Each saved child is an asset of the state. That is why we made an independent decision to completely abandon abortion. The priority now is to raise the birth rate.”

Yesterday, all private health clinics in annexed Crimea informed the Russian-installed Crimean Health Ministry that they had “voluntarily” stopped providing abortions.