Russia's deadly trade in illegal illegal abortions

By Natalia Antonova

11.05.2010 The issue of illegal late-term abortions, and the risks associated with them, was highlighted last week when a Moscow court sentenced Tatiana Komarova, the former head doctor of private medical center "Invest-Alyans", to a four-year suspended sentence following the death of a patient.

RIA Novosti reported that 25-year-old Afsana Radzhabova died when Komarova failed to call an ambulance in a timely manner after a late-term abortion had gone wrong and the patient started hemorrhaging. The court ruled the abortion, performed at 16 weeks, illegal, as it had neither social nor medical justification.

According to Russian law, elective abortions can be performed up until 12 weeks of pregnancy. Following that, a woman can get an abortion up until 22 weeks if her legally defined social circumstances - such as lack of permanent housing, refugee status, status as a potential single mother, and other such factors - allow for it. Abortions performed for legally defined medical reasons, provided that the patient agrees, are performed at the discretion of the medical establishment at any time they are deemed necessary.

In 2008, Moskovsky Komsomolets did research on the topic of illegal late-term abortions in Moscow, concluding that getting one in the capital is easy, provided cash is available. Today, a simple internet search using the phrase "late-term abortion" in Russian, immediately provides a number of sponsored ads with text such as "all types of abortions, early and late-term".

Statistics provided to RIA Novosti by the Russian Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists claim that 25% of all maternity-related deaths stem from illegal abortions.

"If Komarova had explained to us that we got there too late and an abortion at this point in the pregnancy constitutes a risk to Afsana's life, we would have, of course, refused the procedure," Rovshen Bakhshiev, husband of the late Afsana Radzhabova, told journalists.

Svetlana Rudneva, president of the charity fund Family and Childhood, which aims to reduce the number of abortions, told The Moscow News that money is a motivating factor when it comes to performing illegal late-term abortions. "All over Russia, you can get an abortion at any point during your pregnancy, if you have the means to do so," she said. "Sometimes, we get calls from women who are confused about what we do, and they ask questions such as: ‘I am 30 weeks along, will you provide an abortion for 50 thousand roubles?' Private clinics in particular operate with little restraint in this regard.

When asked about the motivations of the patients themselves, Rudneva cited social pressure and lack of informed consent. "Doctors are legally required to mention the possible risks of a medical procedure, but they can choose not to, and there is no system in place that adequately ensures that they do so."

"Families with more than two children are often met with social disapproval," Rudneva added. "In the course of my work, I recall a conversation with a young woman who was pregnant with her third child. Both she and her husband wanted this baby. But the young woman told me, ‘I am worried about being judged.' You have to be very mature and independent to make up your own mind as to what to do with your body."

Changing circumstances in the life of a woman may also contribute to her decision to have an illegal late-term procedure. "More often than not, a social worker can help in this situation," Rudneva said. "Since 2007, medical institutions are required to refer patients to social workers when the need arises. Unfortunately, this ruling is not being enforced at this time. The people in charge of medical institutions often have different priorities. If it comes to, for example, getting repair work done on a building as opposed to hiring an appropriate amount of social workers, they will choose the former."