MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. There is no all-out spree of abortion bans taking place in Russia and all measures and solutions in this field should be made with due care and prudence, President Vladimir Putin said during his combined Direct Line Q&A session and year-end press conference.
"There aren’t any [abortion] bans, are there? So, why talk about a spree of bans? There are no bans. As for bans, I recall bans from the [Soviet] anti-alcohol campaign. We all remember what it led to. It forced people to drink alcohol surrogates and increased the number of those who died from alcohol poisoning," the head of state said.
According to Putin, control over the number of abortions performed in Russia is also an issue that requires the authorities "to act very carefully." However, the president pointed out that the government was certainly interested in resolving this demographic issue and making sure that women "choose to preserve the life of their child."
The rights and freedoms of women need to be respected when addressing the abortion issue, Putin stated. "I believe that the solution to the problem lies first and foremost in at least two fields. First, it’s our traditional values, with big families being one of them; this also includes the upbringing of children in the sense that a child is God’s gift to all, both women and men," he said.
In addition, in Putin’s opinion, the issue of abortion is directly related to material welfare, so there have to be effective social support measures for people in need. "There are special mortgage options and various subsidies. All of the tools that the government has developed over the past several years to support families with children need to be improved further," he noted.