Kazak Youth Urge Abortion Crackdown
A pro-government youth group insists the high rate of terminations encourages moral decay. But experts fear a ban would create a dangerous new back-street industry.
Kazak Youth Urge Abortion Crackdown
A pro-government youth group insists the high rate of terminations encourages moral decay. But experts fear a ban would create a dangerous new back-street industry.
A leading youth organisation in Kazakstan is demanding a crackdown on abortions, claiming the rate of terminations is far too high.
Bolashak (“Future”) a pro-government group with 35,000 members, on February 19 called for a ban on induced abortions, saying the high rate was a reflection of the decline in moral values.
More than 170,000 abortions take place each year in Kazakstan, a country bigger than Western Europe but with a population of only 15 million.
The government is pursuing a demographic policy aimed at boosting the birth rate, which has declined since the Nineties.
Farhad Kasenov, the chairman of Bolashak, insists that abortions are a sign of moral decline in society.
“We aim to make society view abortion as unacceptable,” he told IWPR. “We want to recover our old moral code, developed over the course of centuries.”
A 2006 survey by Komkon–2 Eurasia, a market research company, revealed mixed attitudes among the population towards abortion.
About 62 per cent those surveyed in Almaty, the country’s largest city, expressed a negative attitude towards abortions. At the same time, a narrow majority, 52 per cent, opposed a ban.
Many experts are against restrictions, warning that this would merely drive abortionists underground.
“A ban will only lead to an increase in criminal abortions and the maternal mortality rate will increase,” said Bulat Dospaev, a gynaecological medical consultant in Almaty.
“Women will seek others ways to get an abortions, by going abroad or turning to non-professionals.”
Back-street operations, he said, result in “bleeding, genital injury and dysfunctional reproductive systems leading to infertility”.
The doctor noted that abortion played an important role in Kazakstan, permitting women to escape from pregnancies that would bring shame on their families.
“If a woman in Russia becomes pregnant as a result of extramarital relations, psychologically it’s easier for her to give a birth in that situation, but here the [Muslim] faith and mentality mean it is a shame and a disgrace,” explained Dr Dospaev.
Others agreed a ban would be a poor solution and suggested instead that there should be better sex education for young people and advice on contraception.
An organiser of a recent drive to familiarise young people in the countryside with contraceptive methods pointed out the difficulties with this strategy, however.
“We travelled to remote villages and talked to people about unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, and ways to avoid them,” recalled the activist, who did not want to be named.
“But the people treated us as the bearers of amoral, perverted ideas,” he went on. “In one remote aul [village], the local elders wouldn’t let us in but shouted and cursed, calling us emissaries of the devil.”
Saule, 25, knows all about the consequences an amateur abortion.
A few years ago, when she was 18, an affair with a married man left her pregnant.
Marriage was out of the question. Ashamed to tell her parents about her condition, she did not go to hospital and turned instead to a local healer, who performed the abortion at home.
Since then she has married, but has never become pregnant. She is undergoing treatment for suspected infertility.
“Now I would like a baby but the doctors say my chances are slim,” lamented Saule.
Meanwhile, Rozlana Taukina, a human rights activist, thinks the proposal to ban abortions is retrograde and pointless.
She dismissed Bolashak’s campaign as “a one-day wonder which will not gain much support”.
“A woman has a right to choose,” she said. “It is a woman’s prerogative… to decide whether she wants to give birth and bring up a baby or not.”
Tautkina said a ban would be akin to “a return to feudalism” and would harm people’s health.
“Bolashak would do better to campaign for a healthy nation, which means not smoking or drinking and looking after one’s health,” she said. “As a result, young people would also look after themselves when it comes to sexual matters.”
Marina, a gynaecologist with 30 years’ experience, practices abortions on the side.
She says the number of pregnant women seeking out her services, especially from rural areas, grows each year.
“To go to a clinic, they have to give information about themselves – where they’re studying or working, their home address – whereas I don’t ask,” she said.
“But I have a medical education, so although I don’t have special premises, it’s still safer than turning to old women who used vodka for an anaesthetic and knitting needles instead of gynaecological instruments.”
Despite criticism from the medical establishment, members of Bolashak are pressing ahead with their initiative.
In late in January, the girls’ wing of the youth movement started a separate drive against pre-marital sex, which Kasenov described as “already a big project”.
“Of course, we cannot solve these issues within one or two years,” he admitted.
“But we will repeat our message every hour through the media, through the school system and other public organisations, saying we must end the present situation and start bringing up young people with a healthy moral outlook.”
Natalya Napolskaya is an IWPR contributor in Almaty.
