Well planned activities of opponents of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in the Russian Federation are currently in action. Strategies and tactics of anti-choice groups have been modified too in order to let regulations, orders and by-laws pass without public discussion or debate.
As a start the mandatory procedure of conducting ultrasound and listening to the heartbeat of the embryo before the abortion procedure was introduced through a by-law without public discussion. Moreover the Consent form, which women are obliged to sign before an abortion, now contains misleading unscientific information about risks and consequences of abortions.
Next objective for anti-choice groups is to introduce additional licensing system for abortion services. If this step will be successful, it will be probably followed by extraction of abortion services from the system of State Mandatory Medical Insurance, which will create barriers for women in accessing the procedure.
Source: Coalition for Reproductive Choice “The Rowan bunchâ€
