Moscow, November 19, 2015
On November 18, 2015, the 95th anniversary of legalization of abortions in the Soviet Union, individuals picketed in defense of life of pre-born children at the entrances to the Council of Federation and the State Duma in Moscow.
The Pro-Life Movement activists silently witnessed the fact of legality of infanticide for past 95 years before the elected representatives of the people and representatives of the regions who were arriving to the plenary meetings.
Commenting on the action, Chairman of the Synodal Department for Cooperation of the Church and Society Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said:
“I am very glad that Orthodox Christians, on this sorrowful and mournful day, expressed their civil stand, reminding the supreme legislative authority of the moral dimension of the law. Many people are convinced that a pre-born child is a human being in the full sense of this word, and this fact should be stated in the legislation. Some will agree with this, others will not, but Orthodox Christians can and even must express their opinion; more than that, they should directly ask the politicians about their attitude to abortions. It is important that nobody should be able to hide from the straightforward dialogue.”
He continued: “The Soviet Union was the first country in the world to legalize abortions. At that moment it was obsessed with atheism and hatred towards mankind. Unfortunately, our path of official recognition of abortions was repeated by some other countries. We were the first in this sin, now let us be the first in repentance, correction of our lives and restoration of our moral system through a resolute reduction of abortions and, in the future, through their total rejection by the society.”
President of the “Pro-Life” international festival Sergei Chesnokov also commented on this demonstration: “I personally cannot be indifferent to this. November 18 can rightly be called a “black day” on the calendar. Our movement struggles for making day a national day of mourning for unborn children. As a result of legalization of abortions, Russia has lost more people than in all the wars throughout its history. I feel certain that one day November 18 will become an official national day of mourning.”
Leader of the “Holy Russia” Russian Orthodox movement Ivan (John) Otrakovsky also held an individual picket near the Council of Federation building demanding the prohibition of abortions. “Today is a very sad day in the Russian history. It would be better to lower the Russian Federation’s national flag at half-mast on this day in memory of the millions of innocent unborn children. During the reign of the Holy Emperor Nicholas II, the population increased to 60 million people. In that period of our history abortions were punishable according to national law. After the fall of the Russian Empire, the population of our motherland has been permanently and rapidly declining. And this is not only because of the deterioration in morals, but also because of the adopted cannibalistic law which legalized homicide. It is time to refuse to accept the medical term for abortion—“interruption of pregnancy”—and introduce the legal term, “infanticide (of pre-born children)”, then legislatively ban this heinous crime against our future and our children”.
