Abortion in former Socialist states

[spartan]

I would like to know the official position on abortion in the former Socialist states (Albania, China, DPRK, USSR, Warsaw Pact, Yugoslavia, etc).

Was abortion available to all women, no matter their reasons for having the abortion, in the former Socialist states?

Was abortion more available to women in a Capitalist state or the former Socialist states?

What was the majority of peoples attitiudes towards abortion in the former Socialist states?

What view did the authoritaries and governments of the former Socialist states take on abortion?

[Red_or_Dead]

I would like to know the official position on abortion in the former Socialist states (Albania, China, DPRK, USSR, Warsaw Pact, Yugoslavia, etc).

Was abortion available to all women, no matter their reasons for having the abortion, in the former Socialist states?

Was abortion more available to women in a Capitalist state or the former Socialist states?

What was the majority of peoples attitiudes towards abortion in the former Socialist states?

What view did the authoritaries and governments of the former Socialist states take on abortion?


I can only say for sure that it was perfectly legal in Yugoslavia, and I believe that we were among the first to completely legalize it. I think that it was legalized somewhere in the 70s, I dont remember too well really. I heard it on TV, anyway.

I cant answer the rest of the questions, tho, sorry.

[BobKKKindle$]

Abortion was legalized and made freely available in Soviet Russia shortly after the October revolution (in addition to a range of other feminist measures, such as the provision of childcare and the free right to divorce at the request of one partner) but was later removed following the Stalinist degeneration. I actually did some research on Albania recently for another thread and this is what I found:

(www.un.org/esa/population/publications/abortion/doc/albani1.doc) A UN report notes that:

"Until 1991, abortion was permitted only when it was necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman or when her physical health was seriously endangered...The restrictive nature of the law was largely a result of the population policy adopted by the Government of Albania, of which the law was an integral part. The Government pursued an aggressive pronatalist policy...Prohibiting abortion was viewed as a way of maintaining a high birth rate. As part of the same policy, contraceptives were not imported into the country, and the sale of oral contraceptives was specifically prohibited. This policy had dramatic health consequences. The maternal mortality ratio was the second highest in Europe, after Romania; an estimated 50 per cent of all pregnancies ended in abortion, mostly self-induced or performed under unsafe and unsanitary conditions. The number of premature births was also abnormally high."

I cross checked these facts with other reports and they seem to be correct.

Makes you wonder why those 'Hoxhaists' idolize such a dreary hell-hole ("socialist" Albania)

[apathy maybe]

The USSR banned abortion in most cases after 1936. As well, contraception and voluntary sterilisation was also massively restricted.

I believe that after 1956 that this policy changed, but I haven't bothered researching it because hardly anyone believes that the USSR was socialist after Stalin.


North Korea? I'm not sure, but there seems to be lots of sites out there that say nasty stuff about them. Including that they "practice forced abortion". Take these articles with a large grain of salt.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/aboforcenk.htm
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/5/21/102944.shtml
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F00EEDF113DF933A25755C0A9649C8B 63

[Herman]

North Korea? I'm not sure, but there seems to be lots of sites out there that say nasty stuff about them. Including that they "practice forced abortion".

Yeah, North Korea might not be the ideal worker's paradise, but it's not some dark castle, where there are always storms (conjured by Kim Jong Il) and gargoyles flying around, military marches all around it.

[Demogorgon]

It obviously varied across states. Interesting fact, when East Germany legalised it, it was the only time there was opposition in the Volkskammer to government policy, with about about thirty deputies rebelling on religious grounds.

[TC]

The USSR banned abortion in most cases after 1936. As well, contraception and voluntary sterilisation was also massively restricted.

I believe that after 1956 that this policy changed, but I haven't bothered researching it

It was 1955 and contraception was as far as I can tell never (legally) restricted.

But nice to throw in additional demonising comments.

As far as I know, Romania is the only country thats claimed to be socialist while restricting contraception and no other socialist country banned abortion post mid 1950s.


because hardly anyone believes that the USSR was socialist after Stalin.

Yah, hardly anyone except tens of millions of Russian communists and hundreds of millions of Chinese communists, tens of millions of vietnamese, millions of Cubans, millions of Indians, etc...

Oh also dominant public opinion everywhere apart from Trotskyist and anti-revisionist sects.

What you mean is that relatively few people who you think are important believe the USSR was socialist after Stalin: white punk western kids.



North Korea? I'm not sure, but there seems to be lots of sites out there that say nasty stuff about them. Including that they "practice forced abortion". Take these articles with a large grain of salt.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/aboforcenk.htm
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/5/21/102944.shtml
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F00EEDF113DF933A25755C0A9649C8B 63
[/QUOTE]

Thats because ruling north Korean aristocrats think that eating roast 8 month fetus restores their youth and vigor...

and because people are stupid enough to believe *anything* about north Korea, no matter how stupid and implausible.

[BobKKKindle$]

As far as I know, Romania is the only country thats claimed to be socialist while restricting contraception and no other socialist country banned abortion post mid 1950s.

Check my above post TC - Albania was even more reactionary than Romania.

[careyprice31]

Abortion was legalized and made freely available in Soviet Russia shortly after the October revolution (in addition to a range of other feminist measures, such as the provision of childcare and the free right to divorce at the request of one partner) but was later removed following the Stalinist degeneration.





Abortion was made illegal in 1936 during the stalin years and continued to be illegal up to the fall of the ussr. Not long before the USSR fell, Russia had the highest number of illegal abortions (and abortions period) in the world.

Under Lenin though, abortions were not only legal, they were also free.

[apathy maybe]

Yah, hardly anyone except tens of millions of Russian communists and hundreds of millions of Chinese communists, tens of millions of vietnamese, millions of Cubans, millions of Indians, etc...

Oh also dominant public opinion everywhere apart from Trotskyist and anti-revisionist sects.

What you mean is that relatively few people who you think are important believe the USSR was socialist after Stalin: white punk western kids.
I actually meant on this website, but whatever. And I said after Stalin! So surely the Trots et al. would say that the USSR stopped being socialist a number of years before 1955...

(Indeed, most anarchists would suggest either that the USSR was never socialist, or was only for a few years.)

Quotes on abortion in the USSR.
www.un.org/esa/population/publications/abortion/doc/russia.doc or http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:Oz0dPCSBXeIJ:www.un.org/esa/population/publications/abortion/doc/russia.doc+ussr+contraception&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=13&gl=uk

The Soviet Decree of 27 June 1936 prohibited the performance of abortions except in cases of danger to life, serious threat to health, or the existence of a serious disease that could be inherited from the parents.

In its Decree of 23 November 1955, the Government of the former USSR repealed the general prohibition on the performance of abortions contained in the 1936 Decree. Other regulations issued in 1955 specified that abortions could be performed freely during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy if no contraindication existed and after that point when the continuance of the pregnancy and the birth would harm the mother (interpreted to include foetal handicap).


And from http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/field-alice/protect/ch04.html

The law of 1920 which legalised abortion did so under the following conditions:
[snip]
e) An abortion must not be performed for the first pregnancy unless childbirth would seriously endanger the woman's life.
f) Abortion must not be performed if the pregnancy has been continued for more than two and one-half months.
[snip]

What a wonderful socialist utopia where abortion is limited until you have at least one child!