Russian women say Nyet to children

November 18, 2024 35 Reactions

The world's population is becoming greyer, getting sicker, and growing fewer. Fertility rates are falling far below replacement level. Nearly everyone is alarmed by this, apart from a few ZPG ninjas. The proportion of Japanese over 65 in 2050 will be about 40 percent. In China, that figure will be about 30 percent; in Germany, about 30 percent; in Iran, about 25 percent; in the United States, about 20 percent; and in Russia, about 25 percent.

A high proportion of elderly means fewer taxpayers, fewer innovators, more dependents, and bigger healthcare bills. There will be shortages of workers and – this must be giving generals everywhere nightmares – soldiers.

So governments are experimenting with schemes to boost the number of babies. There have been all sorts: subsidized IVF, baby bonuses, generous parental leave, and awards for fertile mothers. Singapore even experimented with a government dating service.

None of these carrots has worked.

So Russia is trying a stick.

A new law criminalising “child-free propaganda” passed the lower house of parliament earlier this month. It still have to be passed by the upper house and signed by President Putin.

“Childfree propaganda is a socially dangerous phenomenon. The Americans are promoting this. Our country is vast and their ideology is dangerous. Under no circumstances should it be allowed to spread,” Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the lower house, said in October.

The Russian Orthodox Church is on board. “Child-free is an ideology…that claims children are not obligatory in life and, more generally, even fosters hatred toward children,” said Father Fyodor Lukyanov, the head of the patriarch’s Commission on the Family and the Defense of Motherhood and Childhood earlier this year. “Such child-hating, people-hating ideologies – particularly child-free – must be banned and equated with extremism since they are destroying our future, our children.”

President Putin has lots of things on his mind, including that special military operation in Ukraine, but increasing the birth rate is a very high priority for him. In May he issued a decree calling for measures to raise the birth rate and to increase the number of families with three or more children. In 2022 the government revived the Soviet-era Mother Heroine awardfor women who have 10 or more children -- a lump sum cash prize of US$16,500.

If it passes, the legislation will ban “childfree propaganda” on the internet and in the media, films and advertisements. There will be steep fines –about $4000 for individuals and $51,000 for organisations. The law is loosely worded and human rights advocates fear that even positive comments about a childfree lifestyle or public discussions on birth control or abortion could be considered a violation.

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But despite the bombastic pro-natalist rhetoric, the Russians are unlikely to have greater success than South Korea or Singapore has.

Some lawmakers floated the idea of a tax on a monthly tax on families without children – but the Soviet Union already tried that and it didn’t work.

Cutting back on abortion seems like an obvious strategy. Russia has one of the world’s highest abortion rates – a legacy of the Soviet era, when it was the principal means of birth control. Now the government is beginning to actively discourage abortion. A fifth of abortions are carried out in private clinics and local governments are beginning to close them down. According to the BBC:

“The Health Ministry has drawn up guidelines telling medics how best to dissuade women from having an abortion. Doctors are encouraged to tell pregnant women who are younger than 18 that young parents bond better with their children ‘because they are practically from the same generation’.

“If a pregnant woman is single, doctors are meant to tell her that ‘having a child is no obstacle to finding a life partner.’"

But the Russians are unlikely to ban abortion entirely. Romania’s appalling Communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu tried that. The results were disastrous. So the Russians are trying a soft approach.

The media is full of pro-natal advertising. One ad features a young couple who receive a knock on the door at night from a cute little toddler, who tells them, “I am your happiness.” The woman lets her in despite her boyfriend objecting that “we are not planning.” She replies, “You can’t plan happiness, can you?”

The Russian TV channel Yu features a number of pro-child shows, like Supermom, Maternity Ward Days, Call Me Mom, and Mom at 45. One of them used to be called Pregnant at 16; recently it was rebranded Mom at 16. The opening line of each episode changed from “I’m pregnant” to “I’m expecting a child”. Nowadays girls on the show never even consider an abortion. Russian feminists are outraged.

Even Putin has expressed doubts about banning abortion. According to Deutsche Welle, last year he described it as a perplexing issue. What should the country do, he mused. "Ban selling medication that terminates pregnancy? Or improve the socio-economic situation in the country, raise living standards, real salaries, benefits... help young families buy homes?"

The government is scared.

Russia’s population is shrinking, partly as a result of losses in the war with Ukraine. Demographers believe that the current population of 146 million will decline to between 74 million and 112 million by 2100. Defence, industry, social services, living standards, and national identity are all at risk. At the moment, “Every corner of Russia’s economy is experiencing personnel shortages, while war casualties continue to shrink the able-bodied population,” says a recent report on Russian demographics for the Atlantic Council.

In short, it appears that neither the carrot nor the stick will increase the birth rate in Russia. The problem, as in other countries, must be that young women no longer see motherhood and family life as fulfilling life goals.

How will that change? Only with a spiritual renewal, as I suggested recently. And Putin’s Russia is unlikely to inspire that.

Forward this to your friends.

Michael Cook is editor of Mercator.

Image credit: Bigstock

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Janet Grevillea commented 2024-11-18 12:07:28 +1100

Further to the comment about ectogenesis, have you noticed that there is widespread discouragement of us using the word ‘woman’? On the Australian Broadcasting System’s Radio National, a programme this week on the history of abortion in Australia used the word ‘woman’ sparingly, preferring to refer to ‘people’ who want, have, or are refused abortions. The aim is to stop us assuming that it is women who have babies.
Janet Grevillea commented 2024-11-18 12:05:05 +1100

Steven Meyer, ectogenesis is one of the aims of the transgender movement. Have a look at Jennifer Bilek’s book ‘Transsexual Transgender Transhuman: Dispatches from The 11th Hour’
Steven Meyer commented 2024-11-18 10:42:37 +1100

I have a confession to make.

I’m really, and I mean really, glad I was not the one who carried the babies. That whole pregnancy and childbirth thing looks like a nightmare.

Now if you have some personal story of how you, personally, found pregnancy and childbirth a wonder, spiritually uplifting experience good for you. But I suspect most women approach it with at least a certain amount of apprehension and I don’t think wicked atheistic propaganda has anything to do with that.

So I’m sticking by my forecast. By 2070 ectogenesis, foetal development in artificial wombs, will be the norm.

Brave New World was a prophetic book and Aldous Huxley was a genius.
Paul Bunyan commented 2024-11-18 10:41:43 +1100

The global population is expected to grow for at least a few decades. Improved health and life expectancy has resulted in population inertia – the population will grow because of decreased mortality rates, even if birth rates decline.

And the negative effects of population growth are rarely, if ever, mentioned on this site. More births = more poverty, crime and misery. Even though food production has increased, billions still live in poverty, and we can’t create food out of thin air. Most of the water on the planet is salt water, unsuitable for drinking or agriculture.

And because of the aforementioned increases in poverty, crime and misery, those born into poverty and desperation turn to crime. High birth rates create easy fodder for gangs and terrorist groups to recruit.

If the rich “elite” truly cared about humanity, they would spend their time and fortunes on reducing suffering and caring about the long-term health of society and the planet. They would not be encouraging people to create more soldiers and workers.
Michael Cook published this page in The Latest 2024-11-18 08:46:06 +1100

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