MOSCOW, January 26. /TASS/. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has demanded that induced terminations of pregnancies be removed from services provided by private clinics in Russia because commercial medical institutions violate "anti-abortion" restrictions and profit off a "woman’s grief."
"An abortion remains not only so-called free medical assistance but also a means to gain profit for private clinics. According to a number of experts, commercial medicine often does not comply with those important ‘anti-abortion’ restrictions that in recent years have been adopted by the state with the full support of society and the church. The time has come to legislatively remove abortions from the list of so-called services allowing medical entrepreneurs to profit off a woman’s grief," he said at a plenary session of the 11th Christmas parliamentary meetings on Thursday.
The head of the Russian church also added that a resolute revision of demographic policy is the condition for the survival of modern Russia.
The Patriarchal Commission for Family and Protection of Motherhood and Childhood suggested introducing a norm whereby an artificial termination of pregnancy would require not just a married woman's request, but also the consent of her husband. This legislation should also include compulsory psychological consultation and a demonstration of the fetus’ heartbeat, the commission’s chairman, priest Fyodor Lukyanov said on Thursday.