Women’s Rights Groups Protest Russia’s Church-Backed Abortion Bill

Reuters: Church-backed abortion bill sparks protest in Russia, by Alissa de Carbonnel:

MOSCOW, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Women of all ages used to fill gynecologist Lyubov Yerofeyeva's Soviet state clinic, lined up by the dozen for back-to-back abortions. "It was more common to take sick days for an abortion than for a cold in those days," she said.

Two decades after the Soviet Union's collapse, wider availability of contraception and a resurgence of religion have reduced the numbers of abortions overall, but termination remains the top method of birth control in Russia.

Its abortion rate -- 1.3 million, or 73 per 100 births in 2009 -- is the world's highest.

Backed by the Russian Orthodox Church, an influential anti-abortion lobby is driving a moral crusade to tighten legislation and shift public attitudes that are largely a legacy of the Soviet era. . . .