Laws banning "propaganda" that discourages Russians from having children received overwhelming support yesterday in the first step of their passage in parliament, as part of the Kremlin's efforts to boost the country's declining birth rate.
The bill, which would ban content deemed to promote a child-free lifestyle, was unanimously supported by members of parliament's lower house, the Duma, in the first of three required readings.
"It is important to protect people, above all the younger generation, from the imposition of the ideology of a childless life through the Internet, the media, films and advertisements," said Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, a powerful ally of President Vladimir Putin.
"We continue to form a unified legal framework to protect children, families and traditional values."
Putin, who represents Russia as a bastion of moral values in an existential conflict with the decadent West, encourages women to have at least three children to ensure the country's demographic future.
However, critics of the new law consider it a worrying development.
"Women are essentially turned into childbearing vehicles, regardless of their circumstances, their motives and whether they want a career or a family," said Olga Suvorova, a human rights activist who works with victims of domestic violence in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.
"The message is clear: give birth and that's it," she told Reuters by phone, adding that she feared the law could open the door to further restrictions on women's rights, including the right to have an abortion.
The demographic challenge has become even more urgent for the authorities after official data last month showed Russia's birth rate fell to its lowest level in 25 years. Meanwhile, the death rate is rising and Moscow's war in Ukraine continues with no clear end in sight.
Duma Vice President Anna Kuznetsova said earlier this month that the law banning the promotion of a childless lifestyle is part of Russia's "national security strategy."
Authors of content that violates the law will face fines: up to 400.000 rubles ($4.125) for individuals, twice as much for officials and up to 5 million rubles ($51.550) for legal entities.
Volodin said that the law is not aimed at criminalizing women who choose not to become mothers.
"The decision on whether to have children or not is up to the woman. With whom she wants to consult about it, it is again her decision," he wrote on Telegram. "But there must be no propaganda that puts pressure on a woman when she makes a decision about whether she will have a child".
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