Vladimir Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) are aligned in the fight for “traditional values,” but politics and religion have been parting ways more when it comes to abortion, Pal Kolsto writes in the current issue of the journal Religion, State, and Society (51:2). While in the past, the issue of abortion has not been a priority for the ROC, today there are few concerns that rate higher in the church’s social agenda. Kolsto writes that church officials have inflated the rate of abortions (claiming there to be from 5 to 8 million abortions a year, while official figures estimate only about 800,000) and in 2016 led a campaign that included the gathering of one million signatures for a petition against abortion. It is true that under Putin, Russia has adopted certain laws and regulations that have made abortions harder to obtain, such as a restriction on elective abortions to pregnancies under 12 weeks, but such legislation has come nowhere near the church’s teachings and advocacy. Legislators have attempted to introduce ROC-initiated bills in the Duma, but these attempts have generally been defeated. With few exceptions, Putin has stayed outside the fray, voicing few sentiments about abortion, though other prominent politicians, particularly women, have criticized the ROC’s abortion teachings as extreme.
Church protest on abortion in Russia (source:https://orthochristian.com/71051.html).
The ROC and pro-life Orthodox activists have stepped up their rhetoric against abortion in recent years, going from calling abortion an act of murder in church statements, to “genocide” and “mass murder.” At the same time, activists acknowledge that most Orthodox believers are unaware of church teachings and tend to treat abortion tolerantly. The failure of the ROC to influence legislation on abortion is a puzzle for Kolsto, since Putin has otherwise prioritized what are seen as traditional values. But he suggests that low church attendance in Russia may be the main factor: “churches that are unable to attract believers to their activities cannot expect to wield influence over public policies in the country,” he writes. While observers argue that the ROC has usually adapted to the Kremlin rather than vice versa, Kolsto concludes that its conviction that its teaching on abortion is a “moral commandment that comes from God himself” makes it independent from the state on this issue, with “open conflict bound to erupt.”
(Religion, State, and Society, https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/crss20)
