Abortion in Russia

Abortion in Russia is legal as an elective procedure up to the 12th week of pregnancy, and in special circumstances at later stages. In 2009, Russia reported 1.2 million abortions, out of a population of 143 million people. In 2020, Russia had decreased its number of abortions to 450 thousand.

Following the takeover of Russia by the Bolsheviks, the Russian Soviet Republic under Vladimir Lenin became the first country in the world in the modern era to allow abortion in all circumstances in 1920. Over the course of the 20th century, the legality of abortion changed more than once, with a ban on unconditional abortions being enacted again from 1936 to 1955, after which it was legalised again. Due to this, the country developed a so-called "abortion culture". Russian abortions peaked in the mid-1960s with a total of 5,463,300 in 1965. In the Soviet Union's entire history from 1920 until 1991, over 260 million abortions took place, mostly in Russia.

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