Moscow’s Promotion of Abortion Bans and Early Births More about Pleasing Older Generation of Putin Voters than about Raising Birthrates, Economist Says

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Mar. 25 – Moscow’s support for restricting or banning abortions and its promotion of childbirth at ever earlier ages do little to increase the birthrate, Dmitry Prokofyev says; but they do please members of the older generation who vote for Putin and see such moves as giving them a better chance to have grandchildren.
    The author of the Money and the Fox telegram channel argues that pleasing that group of voters rather than actually increasing birthrates is the real reason Moscow is supporting these things because the Kremlin knows the numbers of additional children either will produce is small (rosbalt.ru/news/2025-03-25/dmitriy-prokofiev-vlast-posylaet-babushkam-signal-5354082).
    It may be that Prokofyev is overstating the political calculation behind what the Putin regime is doing, but the fact that neither abortion bans nor promotion of early first births is going to have a large impact is widely recognized. And so what this independent economist is saying is likely more significant than many have understood.
    If that is the case, then it is likely that Putin’s current “pro-natalist” policies are going to attract a lot of media attention and generate support for him among his base in the elderly but do little to help Russia reverse its demographic decline. (On that possibility, see club-rf.ru/57/detail/7630  rosbalt.ru/news/2025-03-25/ilya-graschenkov-kuda-mozhet-zavesti-pogonya-za-povysheniem-rozhdaemosti-5354326.)