17-year-old college student gives birth in bathroom stall and leaves baby wrapped on floor. Hospitals in her region of Russia have stopped offering abortions.
Students at a teachers’ college dormitory in Russia’s Zabaykalsky Krai found a newborn baby on the floor of a bathroom stall this weekend. The child’s mother, a 17-year-old pupil at the school, had given birth in the bathroom and left the baby wrapped in a jacket. The mother and child were later taken to the hospital, and the two are now together under medical supervision. The baby’s life is not in danger, according to the news outlet People of Baikal. Local officials have reportedly spoken with the mother, the college administration, and her instructors, and they have requested her medical files.
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the state has accelerated its pronatalist policies, urging women to have more children, starting at younger ages. Zabaykalsky Krai has introduced monthly payments of 22,600 rubles ($290) for pregnant schoolgirls and students during maternity leave. Meanwhile, many local hospitals and clinics across the region have relinquished their licenses to perform abortions.
