Abstract

Right-to-Lifers Hit Russia

This article presents information about the social movement organized by anti-abortion groups in Russia. Christian right groups such as the International Right to Life Federation are by far the best organized and most successful. Their ideas about morality and family values, especially as these coincide with a resurgent nationalism that relies on traditional notions of women and the glorification of motherhood-are highly appealing to Russians in flux between discarding an old identity and creating a new one. In this context, abortion rights have become a natural target. Antiabortion forces are also exploiting fears over the dramatically falling birthrate. Last year, for the first time since World War II, deaths in Russia exceeded births. Many women say that grinding poverty, social instability and hopelessness lead them to postpone, or forgo, childbearing.