Abortion and the right to life in post-communist eastern Europe and Russia

East European Quarterly

Volumn 36, Issue 2, 2002, Pages 191-226

  Flood, Patrick J ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS   (United States)

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EID: 34247450409     PISSN: 00128449     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (133)

1. Moreover, because the state claimed a monopoly on medical personnel and institutions, this meant that it not only permitted and facilitated but also performed abortion.
2. For instance, the work of Gail Kligman and Susan Gal in, "Gendering Postsocialism: Reproduction as Politics in East Central Europe," in Between Past and Future: The Revolutions of 1989 and Their Aftermath, Sorin Antohi and Vladimir Tismaneanu, eds. (Budapest: Central European Press, 2000), 198-216.
3. I saw the same pattern in Uzhgorod, capital of the TransCarpathian region of Ukraine where I taught recently. In normal everyday conversation, people often volun-teered their religious affiliation. Probably because of the long history of official persecu-tion (a Russian Orthodox Church in Uzhgorod had been the Museum of Atheism, for instance), people were happy just to be able to talk about their religion and to practice it publicly. Church services of all denominations were invariably packed.
4. For a good brief survey of the situation of churches under Communism and in the post-Communist period in Eastern Europe, see Paula Franklin Lytle, "Religion and Politics in Eastern Europe," in Sabrina P. Ramet, ed" Eastern Europe: Politics, Culture and Society since 1939 (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1998), 304-329.
5. For example, the vigorous challenges to the Party line in the Sejm by Janusz Zablocki and other deputies of the Catholic Znak group, and by independents such as the late Edmund Jan Osmanczyk. They had to pick their fights carefully. They were occa-sionally able to modify legislation at the committee stage, out of the public eye, and their participation as dissenters in plenary debates sometimes attracted press attention.
6. UN, Abortion Policies: A Global Review (New York: United Nations, 1995) vol. III, 37-39.
7. During diplomatic assignments to Poland in the 1970s and 80s, I attended meetings of the Catholic Intellectuals' Clubs in some Polish cities.
8. Jolanta Plakwicz and Eleonora'Zielinska, "Poland," in Anna Rolston and Bill Eggert, eds., Abortion in the New Europe (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1994), 201.
9. For a detailed pro-abortion choice reading of developments related to the abortion issue in Poland, see Andrzej Kulczycki, The Abortion Debate in the World (New York: Routledge, 1999), Chapter 4.
10. Dominic Standish, "From Abortion on Demand to its Criminalization: The Case of Poland in the 1990s," in Ellie Lee, ed.. Abortion Imw and Politics Today (New York: St. Martin's, 1998), 120;
11. also, Frances Millard, Polish Politics and Society (New York: Routledge, 1999), Chapter 5.
12. Plakwicz and Zielinska, 201; also, Standish, 117.
13. As a rule, democratic societies address the abortion issue through elected legislatures, not through referenda. Only Switzerland, Italy and Ireland have held national referenda on abortion, and in essence they have upheld their legislatures' views on the subject. The process of legislative deliberation, with channels for citizen input, is better suited to producing practicable laws that protect rights than the rigid, slogan-prone pro-cess of referendum in which an issue can be easily distorted to arouse unfounded fears, in an atmosphere where media packaging skills and advertising budgets count for more than reasoned debate.
14. UN, Abortion Policies, vol. III, 38.
15. Kulczycki, 127;
16. also Millard, Polish Politics and Society, 122.
17. Jill Bystydzienski, The httects 01 the Economic and Political transition on Women and Families in Poland," in Sue Bridger, ed.. Women and Political Change: Perspectives from East-Central Europe (New York: St. Martin's, 1995), 98-100;
18. also Frances Millard, The Anatomy of the New Poland (Edward Eigar, 1994), 106, 167.
19. Barbara Einhorn, Cinderella Goes to Market (London: Verso, 1993), generally on the abortion issue in east central Europe, 89-103; for Poland, 101.
20. Barbara Einhorn, Cinderella Goes to Market (1993), Ibid., 38-39;
21. also Anna Titkow, "Poland," in Henry David and Joanna Skilogianis, From Abortion to Contraception: A Resource to Public Policies and Repro-ductive Behavior in Central and Eastern Europe from 1917 to the Present (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999) 175;
22. Standish, 118;
23. Plakwicz and Zielinska, 209-10. Passages in quotation marks are from the text of the law as cited by Plakwicz and Zielinska.
24. Millard, The Anatomy of the New Poland. 190-93.
25. See also Kulczycki, 131-34.
26. Standish, 122-25;
27. also Titkow, 185
28. Standish, 124-26.
29. Millard, Polish Politics and Society, Chapter 5 is an excellent account and analysis of Polish parliamentary and presidential elections from 1989 through 1997, with complete results and analytical tables based on exit polls.
30. Cited in Grzegorz Weclawocicz, Contemporary Poland: Space and Society (Boulder: Westview, 1996), 127-30;
31. also, Stefania Szlek Miller cites a study by Renata Siemenska indicating that women tended to support conservative parties more than men in 1993:
32. Canadian Slavonic Papers 39 (1997) 78-79.
33. Ex-Communists returned to power or retained control, in several Eastern Euro pean elections, for essentially the same reasons, during this period.
34. Attila Agh, The Politics of Central Europe (London: Sage Publications, 1998), 164.
35. Millard, Polish Politics and Society, 85-89.
36. Standish, 122;
37. also Titkow, 179;
38. International Right to Life Federation Newsletter, November 1996.
39. Millard, Polish Politics and Society, 141.
40. Millard, Polish Politics and Society, 70-71;
41. Titkow, 179;
42. Rita J. Simon, Abortion: Statutes, Policies, and Public Attitudes the World Over (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1998), 18-19;
43. Washington Post, October 25, 1996.
44. Agh, 126-28, 164.
45. Jane Perlez, "Marian Krzaklewski," New York Times, September 23,1997.
46. Millard, Polish Politics and Society, 107.
47. Millard, Polish Politics and Society, Ibid., 134. Also. Act of 23 December 1997.
48. Cited in Plakwicz and Zielinska, 203 and 211 (note 16).
49. UN, Abortion Policies, vol. III, 39;
50. Standish, 118;
51. Titkow, 176.
52. Standish, 118.
53. J. C. Willke, MD, drawing on Polish government figures, in "Clear Evidence: If Forbidden, Abortion Will Not Return to the Back Alley," Life Issues Connector, April, 2000, 1,3.
54. See Kulczycki, 116-17 for a pro-choice reading of some of these figures.
55. Willke, 1.
56. Standish, 118;
57. Titkow, 176.
58. Willke, 1.
59. Ibid.
60. Ibid., 1,3.
61. Simon, 55 and 60 for question phrasing;
62. 103 for table on Poland.
63. Eva Fodor, "The Political Woman?" in Marilyn Rueschemeyer, ed., Women in the Politics of Postcommunist Eastern Europe (Armonk, NY: ME Sharpe, 1998), 156-162, has an extended discussion of the role of women in the principal Hungarian political parties.
64. Adam Balogh and Laszlo Lampe, "Hungary," in Rolston and Eggert, 140-52.
65. Adam Balogh and Laszlo Lampe, "Hungary," in Rolston and Eggert, Ibid., 152-54;
66. Fodor, 161-62.
67. David and Skilogianis, 148-49 (table). "Abortion rate" means the number of abortions per 1000 women age 15-44.
68. Fodor, 156-64.
69. Sharon L. Wolchik, "Women and the Politics of Gender in Communist and Post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe," in Sabrina P. Ramet, 295.
70. Simon, 107.
71. Andrej Popov, "The USSR," in Rolston and Eggert, 274.
72. See also Irene A. Boutenko, "Norms of Conduct," in Irene Boutenko and Kirill E. Razlogov, eds., Recent Social Trends in Russia, 1960-65 (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1997), 124-27.
73. Popov, in Rolston and Eggert, 276
74. Andrej Popov and Henry David, "Russian Federation and USSR Successor States" in David and Skilogianis, 240-42.
75. Also see UN, Abortion Policies, vol. I, Belarus, (191-93), vol. IH Russia (54-57). and Ukraine, (150-52).
76. Popov and David, in David and Skilogianis, 241-42.
77. Various surveys, presented in Christopher Williams, "Abortion and Women's Health in Russia and the Soviet Successor States," in Rosalind Marsh, ed.. Women in Russia and Ukraine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 140-41.
78. Williams, 139-43. Also, in early 1999 Deputy Health Minister Tatiana Stukolova told the Tass news agency that 15-20% of Russian couples cannot have chil-dren. "In more than half the cases, this sterility is due to abortions carried out too early on the woman." International Right to Life Federation Newsletter, February/March 1999.
79. Popov, in Rolston and Eggert, 275.
80. Popov and David, in David and Skilogianis, 232-33,243-44.
81. David and Skilogianis, 264-65 (table).
82. Elena Sargeant, "The 'Woman Question' and Problems of Maternity in Post-communist Russia," in Marsh, 269.
83. Elena Sargeant, "The 'Woman Question' and Problems of Maternity in Post-communist Russia," in Marsh, Ibid., 269.
84. L. Y. Petrunina, "Religious Institutions" and "Religious Beliefs," in Boutenko and Razlogov, 159-161,211-212.
85. Alessandra Stanley, International Herald Tribune, May 20, 1994 For an over-view of the role of women's organizations in Russian political life
86. see Carol Nechemias, "Women and Politics in Post-Soviet Russia," in Rueschemeyer, 8-23;
87. also Olga Lipovskaya, Women's Groups in Russia," in Mary Buckley, ed., Post-Soviet Women: From the Baltic to Central Asia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 186-99.
88. It is telling that Anastasia Posadskaya, a leading Russian feminist, published Women in Russia: A New Era in Russian Feminism (London: Verso, 1994) without discussing abortion.
89. International Right to Life Federation Newsletter, February/ March 1999 and May/June 1999, and July/August 2001.
90. USA Today, Health Section, November 10, 1995.
91. See also Anne Murcott and Annie Feltham, "Beliefs about Reproductive Health, " in Hilary Pilkington, ed., Gender, Generation and Identity in Contemporary Russia (London: Routledge, 1996), especially pp. 152-53 on high abortion rates and 162-63 on moral and health concerns of Russian women about abortion.
92. RFE/RL Newsline, May 13, 1998.
93. "Freedom or 'Life'-Secular and Russian Orthodox Organizations Unite in a Struggle against Reproductive Freedom for Women," by Natalya Babasyan, Izvestia, Feb. 26, 1999.
94. Excerpted in Current Digest of the Russian Press,51:14 no. 12, April 21,1999
95. Solomea Pavlychko, "Progress on Hold: The Conservative Faces of Women in Ukraine." in Buckley, 220-25,229-31.
96. www.nadzeya.org/index.htm Hope and other political parties in Belarus have been effectively excluded from power since the imposition by Aleksander Lukashenko of an authoritarian regime in 1996.
97. Simon, 84-86, 100-02
98. Students proposed seven substantive grounds for abortion:- Serious risk to the mother's life due to pregnancy. All 15 supported including this as a ground for abortion. 11 would impose no time limit, and only one urged a time limit earlier than 28 weeks.
99. - Serious risk to the mother's physical health due to pregnancy. The results were the same as for risk to the mother's life.
100. - Rape. All 15 would include this as a ground for abortion, but there was wide disagreement about how far into pregnancy it should be permitted. Seven students would draw the line at 15 weeks or earlier, two chose 20 weeks, one 28 weeks, one 30 weeks, and four would impose no time limit.
101. - To prevent transmission of serious inheritable disease or defect to the child, e.g., if the mother has AIDS. Nine students supported this proposal, but as in the case of rape there was wide divergence of opinion as to how far into preg-nancy abortion on this ground should be permitted. Of the nine, three would place the bar at 15 weeks or earlier, and six later.
102. - If the mother is addicted to drugs and uses them during pregnancy. Only five students supported including this as a legal ground for abortion. Two would place the time limit at ten weeks, three at 28 weeks or later.
103. - If the mother is mentally ill. Support continued to drop, this time to only four students, with one calling for a ten-week limit and three endorsing 28 weeks or later.
104. - If the mother has too little money to care for the child. Only four students supported this option, but by contrast with (5) and (6) above, only one of the four would permit abortion on this ground after 15 weeks. (That student specified 20.) Perhaps more important, 11 students said emphatically during the debate that economic hardship should never be an acceptable legal reason for abortion.
105. Dimiter Vassilev, "Bulgaria," in David and Skilogianis, 69-82.
106. Dimiter Vassilev, "Bulgaria," in David and Skilogianis, Ibid., 78.
107. For a chronology of the political transition, see Agh, 99, 137, 193, 198-99.
108. For a summary of the decree, see UN, Abortion Policies, vol. I, Bulgaria, 62-64.
109. Simon, 109.
110. David and Skilogianis, 72-73 (table).
111. Gail Kligman. The Politics of Duplicity: Controlling Reproduction in Ceausescu's Romania (Berkeley: University of California Press. 1998). While Kligman's study is the only book-length treatment of abortion in Romania, briefer sources of infor-mation are also available, also written from a pro-abortion choice viewpoint.
112. See, for instance, Adriana Baban, "Romania," in David and Skilogianis, 191-221, esp. 196-206.
113. UN, Abortion Policies, vol. III, 52-53.
114. Kligman does not agree with this assessment, however, asserting that Ceausescu "did not rule by outright terror" (14). I think almost all Romanians would be surprised to hear this. Kligman advances a Foucauldian argument that real terror was made unnecessary because the regime could control the people through other means, in-cluding duplicity. But life in Romania was filled with incidents of pure physical terror, to a greater degree than perhaps anywhere else in Eastern Europe save Albania.
115. When I served in the Refugee Programs Bureau of the State Department from 1986-89, we received a number of credible reports of bullet-riddled or dogbite-mangled bodies along Romanian borders.
116. Kligman, 18.
117. David and Skilogianis, 194-95 (table).
118. Simon, 105
119. Kligman, 221-39.
120. RFE/RL Newsline September 26,1996. www.rferl.org/nca/features/1996/09.
121. Amilda Dymi and Pamela Pine, "Albania," in David and Skilogianis, 53-56, 61-64.
122. Amilda Dymi and Pamela Pine, "Albania," in David and Skilogianis, Ibid., 55.
123. UN, Global Policies on Abortion, respective country sections, 1995;
124. UN Population Division, World Abortion Policies 1999.
125. Popov, in David and Skilogianis, 261-62.
126. Nijole White, "Women in Latvia and Lithuania," in Buckley, 207-08;
127. also, Alina Zvinkliene cites 1991 and 1993 surveys indicating majorities favoring legalized abortion only in cases of threat to the mother's'or child's health, in "Neo-Conservatism in Family Ideology in Lithuania," in Bridger, 143-48. She also said that "the basis for a feminist movement is absent in the former Soviet republics today, whereas there has always been a good basis for pro-family ideas and movements." (148)
128. UN, Abortion Policies, vol. I, 199; vol. III, 85;
129. also see Radim Uzel, "Czech and Slovak Republics," in Rolston and Eggert, 64
130. Sharon Wolchik, "The Czech and Slovak Republics," in Rueschemeyer, 124-26. Re: Nova Humanita, see Einhom, 96.
131. Uzel, 63-67.
132. Jill Irvine, "Croatia," in Rueschemeyer, 222-24.
133. UN, Abortion Policies, vol. III, 89.