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  • Title: The urgent need for quality improvement in Russia.
    Author: Ruevekamp D.
    Journal: Plan Parent Chall; 1994; (2):22-3. PubMed ID: 12318912.
    Abstract:
    Induced abortion became accepted as a legal method of family planning after the October Revolution of 1917 from which terminations were performed in state hospitals free of charge upon a woman's request. The procedure was made legal in response to then newly voiced egalitarian ideals and the increasing involvement of women in the labor market, as well as because of the rapidly deteriorating situation and post-Revolution period of famine. Administrators fully expected to reduce the incidence of abortion once living conditions improved. Little was done at the time to develop contraceptives. Stalin, however, in the 1920s and 1930s, lamented a falling birth rate in the face of manpower needed for labor and the military; abortion and contraceptives were banned, leading to post-abortion complications without really stimulating the birth rate. Abortion was relegalized in 1956, but the right to contraception was never fully restored. Seven million induced abortions were officially registered to have taken place in each of the last ten years in the former Soviet Union. A woman typically undergoes one abortion per year, or approximately twenty abortions during the childbearing period of her life. Lacking knowledge about contraception, contraceptives, and what many Western countries regard to be women's reproductive health rights, most Russian women, however, freely tolerate frequent repeated abortion as a normal method of fertility regulation. Lack of access to contraceptives along with the lack of domestic contraceptive method production facilities and lack of hard currency to secure quality supplies from abroad are contributing factors to this ongoing trend. Gynecologists also receive lucrative fees for illegal abortions and are unlikely to promote change. Plans to open twelve family planning centers in Moscow have been hampered by the inertia of bureaucracy, the lack of financial means, the lack of trained personnel, and people's suspicion of government bodies. Much needs to be done in Russia about family planning, including involving men in matters of sexual behavior and birth control.
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