Vologda Governor’s Fight against Abortions has in Fact Pushed Number of Births Down, Political Opponent of Filimonov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 30 – Georgy Filimonov, the governor of Vologda Oblast, has gained all-Russian attention for his efforts to block all elective abortions as part of an effort to boost the birthrate there. But newly released data show that his program has not worked as intended but instead has led to a decline in the number of births. 

            Duma deputy Aleksey Kanayev, a Filimonov opponent, who released the data said that this pattern reflected three things – a rise in abortion tourism as women traveled to neighboring regions to get the procedure, hospitals misreporting elective abortions as something else to avoid legal problems, and expanded efforts by women to avoid pregnancies.

This case, reported at nemoskva.net/2025/08/30/abortov-ediniczy-no-beremennyh-vse-menshe-zaprety-v-vologodskoj-oblasti-ne-pomogayut-demografii/, is likely typical and means that as long as the anti-abortion effort remains at the federal subject level, it is unlikely to have the results Filimonov and others predict, independent demographer Aleksey Raksha says.