Russia’s health ministry has agreed for the first time to consider the dangers of a controversial ‘abortion reversal’ treatment, after openDemocracy revealed that it had spread into the country from the US.
The commitment came after we went undercover to show how easily the ‘treatment’ known as ‘abortion pill reversal’ (APR), developed and promoted by conservative Christian groups in the West, could be obtained in Russia – despite international health warnings against the procedure.
Russian women’s rights campaigners hope that “urgent concrete actions” will follow the response of the health ministry. Although Russia has one of the world’s most liberal abortion laws, last year President Vladimir Putin ordered the government to step up efforts to prevent abortion. “However, the ministry's reaction means that there are still officials among them who think about women’s health,” Alena Popova, human rights activist and founder of the Ethics and Technology think tank, told openDemocracy.
