Abortion, contraception, and population policy in the Soviet union

Despite its anti‐Malthusian bias, current Soviet doctrine makes clear that regulation of the size of growth of population is one of the functions of the state. Two recent Soviet actions, the re‐legalization of abortion and a new emphasis on spreading the use of contraception, might be considered to be anti‐natalist. On the other hand, all recent Soviet statements emphasize that the present rather substantial Soviet birth rate should be either preserved or raised. Recent data revealed in Soviet sources indicate that the abortion rate in the USSR, may be as high as that anywhere in the world whereas the practice of contraception appears to be relatively infrequent. Moreover, in recent years the fertility of Soviet married women has apparently undergone substantial decline. It is speculated that the Soviet regime might abstractly prefer a birth rate higher than it has now, but is not willing to pay the price for it. Thus, the current Soviet campaigns against too frequent abortion and in favour of contraception are seen not as a contradiction in population policy, but merely as a way of obtaining a more satisfactory method of birth control.