Patriarch Kirill calls for a ban on abortion

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Today, for the first time in history, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church addressed the deputies of the State Duma and members of the Federation Council. And the speech made a lot of noise. Patriarch Kirill, in particular, made a proposal to ban abortion and harshly criticized surrogacy.

The presentation took place within the framework of the Church-Public Forum "Christmas Educational Readings". Speaking to the deputies, the patriarch called the artificial termination of pregnancy evil and "one of the main troubles of Russia." To begin with, he proposed excluding abortion from services provided under the compulsory health insurance system.

As the media remind, according to the current laws of the Russian Federation, women have the right to independently decide on the issue of an abortion. This is enshrined in Article 56 of the Law "On the Fundamentals of Health Protection of Citizens of the Russian Federation".

“The argument that the number of clandestine operations will increase is nonsense. They also pay money for them. The cost of a legal infanticide operation should be the same as that of an underground one. But not at the expense of taxpayers,”the patriarch said.

At the same time, he emphasized that "if it were possible to halve the number of abortions, we would have a steady and powerful demographic growth." Comprehensive measures are also needed, which should include assistance to families in resolving housing problems, material support for large families, the introduction of ethical standards into the work of the health care system that would encourage doctors to take care of preserving the life of a conceived child.

The Patriarch also criticized surrogacy. According to him, it "perverts the very concept of a mother." He believes that the adoption of orphans can be an alternative to surrogacy.