- Title: Russian activists protest restrictive abortion laws
- Date: 8th October 2016
- Summary: ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA (OCTOBER 8, 2016) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS HOLDING BANNER WITH OUTLINE OF FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM AND TWO CROSSED SWORDS BELOW PROTESTERS HOLDING POSTERS AND BANNERS WOMAN HOLDING POSTER READING (Russian): 'BANNED ABORTION = BANNED SAFE ABORTION' VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS HOLDING BANNERS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST, VARVARA MIKHAILOVA, SAYING: "We demand the preservation of all types of pregnancy termination in mandatory health insurance. We demand an end to days where women's consultation centres are closed. We demand accessible contraception for everybody. We demand sex education in schools." ACTIVISTS HOLDING WOMAN UP TO REPRESENT THE BODY OF A VICTIM THAT HAS SOUGHT ILLEGAL ABORTION / FILM DIRECTOR AND FEMINIST ACTIVIST, LEDA GARINA, STANDING IN BACKGROUND, SAYING (Russian): 'An abortion ban does not mean more children. It means more dead women." WOMAN BEING PLACED ON GROUND FLAG OF LEFT-FEM MOVEMENT IN CROWD RALLY IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) FILM DIRECTOR AND FEMINIST ACTIVIST, LEDA GARINA, SAYING: "I had an abortion when I was 23 years old. I was very scared and at that moment I was completely alone. If I gave birth to a baby at that point I would still have been alone. Moreover, I would have never received an education, I would not have had the job that I have today and all my life would have been ruined." POLICE OFFICER TAKING PICTURES OF PROTESTERS AND POSTERS PROTESTERS POLICE OFFICERS TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) UNIDENTIFIED ST PETERSBURG RESIDENT SAYING: "Any state intervention in the private life of people is a crime and the abortion ban can lead to criminality, to unwanted children being thrown into the trash. Women will die from illegal abortions." VARIOUS OF WOMAN HOLDING SIGN READING (Russian): "EDUCATION, NOT A BAN" (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) LEFT-FEM ACTIVIST, NATALIA, SAYING: "Who are we all if not the targets of the clerical capitalist machine, where a man is nothing but a soldier and a woman nothing but an incubator." PROTESTERS HOLDING BANNERS CHURCH OF THE SAVIOUR ON BLOOD IN BACKGROUND PROTESTERS HOLDING FLAGS AND BANNERS
- Embargoed: 23rd October 2016 17:43
- Keywords: Russia abortion ban abortion protest feminists activists St Petersburg
- Location: ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA
- City: ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA
- Country: Russia
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA0015359LXJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Dozens of activists gathered in the centre of St Petersburg on Saturday (October 8) to protest against anti-abortion legislation proposed by the Orthodox church.
Women and men held posters reading 'Banned abortion = banned safe abortion' and 'Education, not a ban'.
"We demand the preservation of all types of pregnancy termination in mandatory health insurance. We demand an end to days where women's consultation centres are closed. We demand accessible contraception for everybody. We demand sex education in schools," a civil rights activist, Varvara Mikhailova, told a crowd of protesters.
In late September the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox church Kirill signed a letter urging lawmakers to remove abortion from the list of free healthcare provisions.
"Any state intervention in the private life of people is a crime and the abortion ban can lead to criminality, to unwanted children being thrown into the trash. Women will die from illegal abortions." said one of the protesters.
Another protesters, a film director and a feminist Leda Garina made a speech holding knitting pins, said to be used for illegal abortions.
"Any state intervention in the private life of people is a crime and the abortion ban can lead to criminality, to unwanted children being thrown into the trash. Women will die from illegal abortions," she said.
Russia's healthcare minister Veronika Skvortsova expressed similar concerns last month, adding that restrictive measures should not result in the rising mortality rate.
The activists also voiced support for the recent protests against abortion ban in Poland. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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