Russian Church proposes a plan to reduce the number of abortions

Member of the Expert Council of the Synodal Youth Department and senior lecturer at the bioethics department of Russian State Medical University Hieromonk Dimitry (Pershin) urged the government to apply abortion money to raise the birth rate.

"A woman must be paid at least two thousand roubles a month beginning from the third week of her pregnancy. The money will be available, if the government cancels the "abortion rent": today, taxpayers contribute their own money to pay for "free" abortions which cost us several billion a year," Father Dimitry said in an interview run in an August issue of Krestovsky Most, an Orthodox newspaper.

According to him, abortions should be paid for (except for some specific cases) and "those abortion billions have to be paid to women willing to give birth to their children." Besides, Father Dimitry continued, the abortion industry should be separated from obstetrics and gynecology sector into a special category and the government should grant special licenses to the dedicated centers and rigidly oversee their work.

Every woman intending to make an abortion should be given at least two days to think over her decision, he said and emphasized that this measure has reduced the number of abortions in Estonia by one third.

If such women do not have neither money nor conditions to bring their babies up, they should have an option to anonymously leave the baby in special centers.

Western European countries have a well-established network of such centers which should be also opened in Russia at different medical institutions, orphanages and large monasteries," Father Dimitry believes.