Wednesday, November 18, 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of legal abortion in Russia. This date is a sad, memorable anniversary for all pro-lifers because it was Russia’s legalization of abortion that opened the door to abortion legalization worldwide — including in the United States of America.
The law was passed by the then USSR to prevent the dangerous street abortions that were taking place at the time. Although abortion was legalized, Soviet Russia claimed they were still discouraging abortion as a means of birth-control. However, this legalization only increased the abortion rate within a span of only three years from a ratio of 22.56 abortions per birth to 31.41. Abortion rates continued to increase from 7,969 abortions in 1922 to 18,071 in 1925 and to 31,986 by 1926. The Soviet Union later restricted abortion, and under Stalin in 1936, abortions were prohibited with the exception of the mother’s life being in “danger.” After Stalin’s death in 1955, the USSR repealed the prohibitions of abortion again to prevent any legal harm to women seeking illegal abortions. Six to seven million abortions are estimated to have taken place each year in Russia from 1955 to the 1980s, and the nation was known for having the highest abortion to live birth ratio in the world. For every one baby born alive, three babies were aborted.
This is one of the effects communism has on society. Communism does not view individual human beings with value. The philosophy of communism is for “the greater good” of society, not the individual. The pro-life community stands behind the belief that all human beings have equal value from the moment of conception, and pro-life Christians take this belief one step further by asserting that this value comes because each person is made in the image and likeness of God. The threat of communism in any country threatens human beings’ right to life, and in turn, a society that allows abortion, murder, and death. Just as communism spreads around the world, the legalization of abortion spread to Germany, the Caribbean, Poland, Japan, and beyond — even to the United States in the monumental Roe v. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on January 22, 1973.
It is our duty as pro-life advocates to awaken society to the reality of abortion, even if we are going against what’s trendy and popular. Only we can make a change in government the more we speak out and stand up. We must never forget the value of an innocent human life.
