Feminist from Kaliningrad Daria Yakovleva has noticed that during the war more and more politicians have started to blame Russian women for giving birth to too few children.
Tightening abortion legislation has been offered as a solution.
Yakovleva believes that the authorities want to cover up losses at the front and are shifting the public’s attention from the war to the emotional abortion debate.
Hear below what Russia is doing to increase the birth rate and how women are encouraged to continue their pregnancy in public health care.
In what kind of situation do you answer this call?
– I am on a business trip in Istanbul. I meet my activist colleagues here, but I live and work in Kaliningrad, Russia.
You are the founder of Feminitive Community, an organization based in Kaliningrad. The organization offers psychological and legal support to women and gender and sexual minorities. What kind of topics are the people of Kaliningrad talking about right now?
– Now the background is the tightening of abortion legislation, but also laws discriminating against gender and sexual minorities. The activities of the international LGBT movement and gender reassignment were recently banned in Russia. In addition, Russia is considering declaring feminist organizations as terrorist organizations.
In Russia, regions are allowed to decide their own abortion legislation, but the Kremlin is now planning to change this. The Russian government is preparing a law that would ban abortions in private healthcare throughout the country. How did the people of Kaliningrad comment on the plan?
– 60 women and men participated in our discussion session on abortion. In a city the size of Kaliningrad, that’s a lot. People talked about the importance of safe abortion. The event criticized the fact that the Orthodox Church and public health professionals try to influence women’s decisions about abortion. Some suspected that individual local Kaliningrad politicians were trying to please the Kremlin by pushing the government’s agenda. Many believed that Kaliningrad would not tighten abortion legislation on its own initiative.
If the Kremlin’s planned crackdown on abortion legislation goes into effect, it means that the state will have a monopoly on abortions. Do you believe that Russia is about to ban abortions completely?
– President of Russia Vladimir Putin has emphasized population growth in recent speeches. In general, Putin’s speeches anticipate rapid changes in legislation. For example, the Duma, the lower house of the parliament, voted in favor of a law banning gender reassignment after Putin had criticized gender reassignment in his speeches. So it is possible that Russia is on its way to a complete ban on abortions.
How do people in your circle react to the discussion about restricting abortions?
– In my own bubble, everyone seems to oppose abortion restrictions. We were just talking about the patriarch Kirill’s about speeches. He has said that Russia’s demographic problems will disappear “like a wave of a magic wand” if abortions are banned. We were unable to discuss the subject matter-of-factly. Swear words were used a lot in the conversation.
Why is President Putin emphasizing themes related to population growth right now?
– Putin says that there are too few Russians and that Russia is experiencing a demographic crisis. Nevertheless, the Kremlin sends men to the front and continues the war. Sometimes it seems that the Russian government is completely detached from the lives of the citizens and lives in a fantasy world. The Kremlin does not base its decisions on researched information, but on its beliefs that tightening abortion laws will increase the population.
– I think that the Russian administration knows how many men fall on the front and is horrified by it. It could also be that the Kremlin has simply indulged in its great power ideology.
So does the Kremlin make Russian women pay with their bodies for Russia’s male losses on the front?
– You can say that about me. In authoritarian systems like Russia, where toxic masculinity and patriarchal order prevail, women are seen as property, an object or a resource. The Russian regime apparently believes that it can use women to advance its patriotic goals. Based on the recent speeches of Putin and other officials, it seems that the value of Russian women is non-existent in the eyes of those in power. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Kremlin wanted to reduce women to birthing machines.
How does this make you feel?
– Initiatives to limit abortion generate hatred and injustice. I feel like punching something, even though I’m against violence. I don’t want to give up and I don’t want to be depressed. I want to fight despite the fact that the atmosphere in Russia today is really depressing. The majority no longer believe that they can influence common issues. In a way, I understand them, because Russia spends enormous resources on its propaganda and indiscriminately represses citizens.
How has the war affected the status of women in Russia?
– Russia’s attack on Ukraine negatively affects the position of both Russian and Ukrainian women. It is known that, for example, gendered violence increases during war. During the war, more women contacted our organization than before because of the violent behavior of their spouses.
Many men returning from the front suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. In Russia, such serious mental health disorders are often not recognized or treated. War indirectly causes a lot of suffering for soldiers’ spouses and children, as they are often subjected to outbreaks of violence.
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