Yelena Mizulina, head of the Russian State Duma's Committee for Family, Women and Children is chairing a regular meeting of the committee. She is deceptively benign and genial, speaking alternately in the calming tones of a kind grandmother and the harsh rattle of a machine gun. She looks severe: dressed all in black, a discreet pearl pin holding her piled up hair and a look of concentration on her face – only her gold spectacle frames provide a contrasting touch.
In recent years, though, this pleasant looking 60 year-old’s name has become a byword for rabid, narrow-minded patriotic conservatism, bordering on a mindset reminiscent of the Stone Age. Indeed, last week Mizulina introduced a bill to remove abortions from the list of free medical care, restricting state medical coverage to abortions only in cases where the mother’s life is in danger, as well as introducing fines for abortions in private clinics. The bill may not have passed. But don’t be fooled: this is just the first attempt.
Once upon a time, though, Mizulina’s profile was quite different. As a leading member of the progressive opposition during the 1990s, she opposed the war in Chechnya and was at the heart of a move to impeach Yeltsin. But how did a convinced democrat become a spokesperson for ultra-conservatism and patriotism, and the butt of many tasteless jokes?
