Christian activists gather enough support to launch bill banning abortion [no, not US: Russia)

RT.com ^ | May 29, 2014

[Mrs. Don-o]

A pregnant woman and her child pass by a banner with an echography of a fetus during a rally against abortion in Moscow (AFP Photo / Alexey Sazonov)

A group of Orthodox Christian activists claim that they have gathered 100,000 signatures under a petition seeking to completely ban abortions in Russia – a number enough to make it a valid legislative initiative.

In the near future all the documents will be submitted to the authorities and the activists will be waiting for an official reaction to their demands, a member of the Public Chamber, priest Aleksander Pelin was quoted as saying by the ITAR-TASS news agency.

The leader of the activists, Dmitriy Tsorionov elaborated on the initiative, and said that it seeks a complete legislative ban on all abortions, including those made on medical advice and on all abortive means of contraception, such as intrauterine devices and hormonal pills. Tsorionov said his group was not protesting against barrier contraceptives, such as condoms.

According to Russian Law any petition that gathers at least 100,000 signatures of support becomes a draft law and must be considered by parliament. The signatures must be gathered on the special government portal and come from registered Russian citizens. People can also vote against the initiatives on the same portal, but the votes against do not influence the documents’ movement, at least technically.

Since the scheme was introduced in March last year only three initiatives have reached the 100,000 signature threshold. The first suggested a price limit for cars purchased by state agencies, and the second called to abolish a new law targeting internet piracy. They were rejected at the first stage. The third sought changes in the rules of self defense favoring the gun lobby, and it is still being considered by an expert group.

Abortions are legal in Russia and have been since Soviet times, but currently centrist-conservative lawmakers want to limit or completely ban them, saying it is partly responsible for the country's dwindling population.

The head of the parliamentary committee for family, women and children, Yelena Mizulina told a recent parliamentary conference that the number of teenage abortions in 2013 was almost 12,000 and there were serious fears that many of the girls could be left infertile forever. The MP blamed the current Family Code and the Law on Healthcare for the situation, in particular the rule that allows abortions without parents’ consent from the age of 15.

The total number of abortions in Russia is about one million per year, according to Deputy Health Minister Tatyana Yakovleva..

[Mrs. Don-o]

Praying for the conversion of the U.S.A.

[lightman]

Aye, Fatima has been fulfilled over there-—afraid more chastisement is needed here. Much more chastisement.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Putin has faults, but one of them does not seem to be the desire to see his country demographically drill itself into a hole.

[Ransomed]

Or even maybe the Orthodox and other Christians want to stop abortion because it is killing unborn people. Not that there aren’t demographic/political motives as well, like you say.

Freegards

[HiTech RedNeck]

The political climate is propitious for it there.

If America goes the same route, it will have to learn via horrible disaster how foolish it is to disrespect one’s own community that way.

[Ransomed]

Hey, we are learning it every day in every way presently. We are in the disaster of abortion, it’s just going real slow for now and hard for most to see. It certainly might get worse. It did in Russia, and their abortion rate in the early 90s was like nothing seen on earth before or after. Maybe they will turn it around. They say public opinion has reversed on the topic here.

We went to the moon and then let legalized abortion be enforced nation wide. Think about that. Then we stopped going to the moon or anywhere else. A coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not.

Freegards

[Ben Ficklin]

You can qualify this article with the stats from the CIA Factbook.

100,000 signatures from a total population over a 142 million.

Russia has a fertility rate of 1.61 and a negative population growth rate compared to the US with a fertility rate of 2.1 and a population growth rate of 0.77%, because of immigration rates.

15-20% claim to be Russian Orthodox, 10-15% claim to be Muslim, 2% claim to be Christian. Which leaves 63% plus who don't practice religion.

[Mrs. Don-o]

As I think I mentioned to you before, our adopted Kamchatka son was conceived in 1991, born in 1992, at the very height of the Russian abortion massacre years. Their rate, already at Himalayan levels, shot up in 1992 to an unbelievable Everest of slaughter. We are very fortunate that his mother gave him birth, and did not leave him in a bucket in a clinic in Petropavlovsk or Elisovo.

Thank you, Larisa Ivanovna Kavilkavov, and God bless you.

Thank you, Lord Jesus.

[Mrs. Don-o]

It would be clearer if you'd put the non-Russian Orthodox under the category "other Christian", since they comprise Catholics, Baptists, and Pentecostals. The number of Protestants, though low, has surged over the past 20 years, due partly to the activities of American missionary and Bible societies.

[Ben Ficklin]

That is the way the CIA Factbook presents the stats.

You use the phrase, "due partly to the activities of American missionary and Bible societies". In that statement I would replace "partly" with "substantially".

[Ransomed]

A very lucky kid indeed.

I tried to find out the abortion rate in China at its peak, and I couldn’t find it. One place said that since 1971 there have been 336 million abortions, which is pretty staggering but I don’t know if it compares to the ‘most grisly statistic the world has ever seen’ as far as the rate of abortions. That was around 280 abortions per every 100 live births in early 90s Russia.

FReegards