MOSCOW, September 25. /TASS/. A bill banning public propaganda of the ideas of voluntarily choosing not to have children (the so-called childfree movement) has been submitted to the State Duma (the lower house of Russia’s parliament), the press service of the United Russia party said.

"The bill banning propaganda of childfree [ideology] was submitted to the State Duma," the statement said.

The initiative stipulates that promoting a childfree life by choice on the Internet, in the media, movies, documentaries and advertisements should be banned. Elvira Aitkulova, one of the authors of the initiative and a member of the State Duma Committee on education, previously said that "it is about the propaganda of childfree ideology, but not about the lifestyle and choices of each individual."

The initiative was authored by lawmakers from both houses who were led by Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin and Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko. Under the bill uploaded to Duma’s e-base, the law "On Information, Information Technology and the Protection of Information’ should include amendments saying that promoting a childless life will be grounds to place such a website on the unified registry of banned information of the Russian communications watchdog (Roskomnadzor). It is said that the owners of social networking sites will have to monitor such childfree propaganda.

The law "On Protecting Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development" is expected to include that childfree ideology will be added to the information banned for promoting among children. Under the draft amendments to the law "On Basic Guarantees of the Rights of the Child in the Russian Federation," the state authorities will have to take measures to protect children from such information.

Additionally, the law "On Mass Media" is due to stipulate that mass media cannot be used for promoting childfree ideas. The bill also establishes that advertising cannot contain information promoting childfree ideology.