Source: www.themoscowtimes.com
November 24, 2006
State Duma deputies will consider a bill barring a wife from having an abortion without her husband's consent.
"Above all, the bill is based on the concept of parental equality," its author, Alexander Krutov of the nationalist Rodina party, said Thursday.
"The decision to give birth to or murder a baby is an enormous one and it should be made by the parents together," he said by telephone.
The bill would require a wife to obtain her husband's written consent in the presence of a doctor before having an abortion. A doctor who allows an abortion without the written consent could face murder charges, Krutov said.
The bill will have to clear the State Duma's Public Health Committee before being sent to the floor of the Duma for discussion, a process that could take three weeks, Krutov said.
Women had more than 1.6 million abortions in 2005, roughly equal to the number of births, Health and Social Development Minister Mikhail Zurabov told the Duma in February.
The abortion rate, while still comparatively high, has declined over the past decade. In 1993, it peaked at 235 per 100 live births. Around 46 million women worldwide have abortions each year, with the highest rates in Romania, Cuba and Vietnam and the lowest rates in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.




