Russians' attitudes towards abortion and life before birth: an all-Russian survey

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

(Results of the all-Russian sociological survey, April - September 2018)

Abortion in the Russian Federation continues to maintain a leading place in the regulation of fertility, causes violations of the reproductive health of women, in some cases leads to death and, according to experts, causes economic damage, i.e. remains a major medical and social problem. It is not without reason that the prevalence and dynamics of abortion is one of the few indicators by which both the general health of the population and the attitude of the state to the problems of motherhood and childhood are assessed. In terms of the number of abortions, Russia occupies one of the first places in Europe and the world.

All-Russian public movement "FOR LIFE!" With the help of hundreds of volunteers, she conducted a unique study in order to understand the true attitude of Russians towards the problem of abortion.

The reason for the study was the fact of a collision with the contradictions between the data of opinion polls by VTsIOM, the Levada Center and others and those spontaneous public opinion polls in various cities on regional TV channels, the involuntary initiators of which were repeatedly made by the movement participants.

The survey was conducted in 8 federal districts of the Russian Federation. It was attended by 279 cities from 63 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The survey involved 29,032 respondents. By gender - 69% of women, 31% of men. The main age categories were distributed as follows: 50% of respondents aged 15-29 years, 27% - 30-44 years old, 15% - 45-59 years old and 8% - over 60 years old.

The survey had a predominantly street format, and was also conducted in educational institutions (colleges, universities). It should be noted that only 5, 7% of the total number of respondents were interviewed in churches, which excludes the religious context in the study.

To the question "How do you think, from what moment does a person's life begin?" 57% of respondents answer that life begins from the moment of conception, 23, 9% - from the moment of birth.

The question "How do you feel about the words of the Minister of Health of Russia:" Abortion is murder "[1]? " The absolute majority agree with this statement - 79.7%.

The question "Should we include in the educational program the actual ideas of science about the beginning of human life?" The answer is yes - 84%.

The question "Do you think it is necessary to inform a woman wishing to terminate a pregnancy about all the consequences?" The answer is yes - 95, 2%.

The question "Do you know that hormonal contraceptives and intrauterine devices have an abortive effect?" Know nothing about this statement 49, 9%, 0, 2% do not agree. Before us is evidence that the work of informing citizens in this direction is not carried out deliberately in the interests of pharmaceutical companies.

The question "How do you feel about the initiative for the legislative protection of human life from the moment of conception?" Supported - 47, 9% respondents 22, 5% against, while 28, 5% found it difficult to answer this question.

On this point, the results of this survey were strikingly different from the results of surveys of different years by VTsIOM and the Levada Center, according to which only 2 to 18% of Russians support the ban on abortion, however, they were consonant with the recent European survey in 2018, according to which 56% of Russians oppose legality. abortion. [2]

The question "In your opinion, from what moment should a person's life be protected by the laws of the Russian Federation?" On this question, the opinions of Russians were divided into two almost equal categories, with a small percentage leading the answer "from the moment of conception" (44, 3%), it is only 1.6% more than the answer "from the moment of birth" (42, 7%). On the third place (10, 5%) the answer is "from the beginning of the heartbeat."

Conclusions:

1. Citizens of Russia are ripe for legislative changes in the field of protecting the life of a child before birth. A negative attitude towards abortion as a murder prevails in society (79, 7%), while almost half of the population (47%) considers it necessary to prohibit this type of murder. The fact that 28, 5% citizens have not yet formed their position on this issue, it is an obvious potential for working with the population.

2. The population of Russia supports an educational campaign for the prevention of abortion, which would include not only assistance to pregnant women in crisis, but also educational work with all categories of the population about the life of a child before birth and the consequences of abortions for health (“for” - 84% citizens).

3. Opinion polls show ignorance 49, 9% the population about the abortive effect of contraceptives, which indicates a violation of the principle of voluntary informed consent by contraceptive manufacturing organizations. The solution in this situation could be the labeling of contraceptives with a similar effect as abortive, as well as educational work with the population.

Analysis of the results of the all-Russian survey,

dedicated to the attitude of Russians to abortion and life before birth

The survey was conducted between April and September 2018.

The survey involved: 29,032 respondents.

The main age categories were distributed as follows:

50% of respondents aged 15 to 29, 27% - between the ages of 30 and 44, 15% - 45-59 years old

and 8% are over 60 years old.

By gender - 69% of women, 31% of men.

The survey was conducted in 8 federal districts of the Russian Federation, the percentage can be seen from the diagram.

The survey involved 279 cities from 63 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. It should be noted that within the same district, the survey was distributed unevenly among the subjects (the sample was not planned correctly enough), which means some error in the conclusions, the same applies to cities within one subject of the Russian Federation.

The survey had a predominantly street format, and was also conducted in educational institutions (colleges, universities). It should be noted that only 5, 7% of the total number of respondents were interviewed in churches.

The ratio of subjects - survey participants in different federal districts can be seen in the table below.

To the question "How do you think, from what moment does a person's life begin?" the following results were obtained. 57% of respondents believe that life begins from the moment of conception, 23, 9% - from the moment of birth, 15, 6 - from the beginning of the heartbeat, and only 2, 8% consider the first movements of the fetus to be the beginning of life.

It is interesting to note that women are more inclined to believe that life begins from the moment of conception - 63.6%, in contrast to men - 44.8%, but men associate the beginning of life with birth - 33.8%.

Comparing the answers to this question by districts, we note that the vast majority of respondents relate the beginning of a person's life with the moment of conception.

It should also be noted that the high indicator in the North Caucasian FD is associated not only with mentality, traditions and religious views, but also with an error in the formation of the sample (only 149 people were interviewed, represented only by the Stavropol Territory).

The general opinion does not change significantly in the age analysis of this issue. Note, however, that the 15-29 age group stands out in the responses compared to other groups. The results are shown in the diagram below.

The question “How do you feel about the words of the Minister of Health of Russia:

"abortion is murder"? "

The absolute majority agree with this statement - 79.7% of all respondents, which is also confirmed by comparative data on age groups, sex and in various federal districts, the diagrams below.

Note that in Moscow and St. Petersburg the picture changes in a ratio of 2/3.

The question "Should we include in the educational program the actual ideas of science about the beginning of human life?"

83.4% of all respondents consider such knowledge necessary for schoolchildren. A high level of agreement can also be traced among respondents of different ages, different genders in different federal districts.

The question "Do you think it is necessary to inform a woman wishing to terminate a pregnancy about all the consequences?"

As a result, 95.2% of respondents believe that it is necessary, and a high percentage (more than 90) can be traced in every federal district, in every age and sex group. According to the absolute majority.

The question "Do you know that hormonal contraceptives and intrauterine devices have an abortive effect?"

Know nothing about this statement 49.9%, 0.2% disagree. The percentage distribution of responses is shown in the diagram below.

The residents of megapolises are not informed about the abortion effect of contraceptives.

A high percentage of respondents in every age category know nothing about this. Information from Internet sources on this issue is received mainly by young people - 18.7% aged 15-29 years, and from a doctor, on the contrary, people over the age of 60 are more aware.

Clarifying the awareness of men and women, it can be noted that men are 13% more (58, 8%) than women (45, 8), do not know anything from this, nevertheless, they receive information on specialized sites almost equally (with a discrepancy at 0.8%).

The question "How do you feel about the initiative for the legislative protection of human life from the moment of conception?"

47.9% of all respondents agreed with this initiative, but 28.5% found it difficult to answer this question.

The distribution for men and women does not change significantly.

However, if we consider the relationship of answers among different age categories of respondents, then among those who agree with the initiative to protect life from the moment of conception, the category of 60 years and older stands out (60, 3%), and among those who do not support, most of all young people aged 15 up to 29 years old (27, 2%).

In St. Petersburg, support for this initiative is 6, 2% more than in Moscow.

On the contrary, there are no more supporters in Moscow (37.6%).

The question "In your opinion, from what moment should a person's life be protected by the laws of the Russian Federation?"

Here the opinions of Russians are divided into two almost equal categories. The answer “from the moment of conception” is in the lead with a small percentage (44.3%), only 1.6% more than the answer “from the moment of birth”.

A similar percentage is observed in all federal districts, with the exception of the North Caucasian District (but there may be a high sampling error).

The diagram below demonstrates that older people agree with the legislative protection of life from the moment of conception, and the age dynamics of such consent is clearly traced.

On the contrary, the answer “from the moment of birth” is impressed by 50.4% of young respondents 15–29 years old. The age dynamics of the decline in such beliefs is also clearly visible.

Among men, the majority believe that it is necessary to protect life from birth (45, 2%), however, women with a small percentage gap (6, 7%) are convinced of the opposite (46, 6%).

In general, the study shows that residents of all federal districts are not indifferent to the problem of abortion and the protection of human life before and after birth.

2-3 years after the educational campaign to study the dynamics of public opinion on these issues, it is planned to repeat the study with adjusting the sample.

The final result: