One in four women in Nizhny Novgorod chooses motherhood over abortion.

      08 September 2025 12:14

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       SocietyOne in four women in the Nizhny Novgorod region facing a reproductive choice decides to forgo abortion and give birth. This result has been achieved by comprehensive counseling programs operating in the region since early 2025 as part of the Five-Year Family initiative.

      According to the Institute for Demographic Development, from January through July 2025, 24.2% of women who sought care at public clinics chose to continue their pregnancies after conversations with medical psychologists.

      A significant contribution to this result is made by the "Emergency Demographic Aid" program, implemented by the Institute with the support of the Nizhny Novgorod regional Ministry of Health and other agencies. The program operates the hotline сохрани.рф, and women receive help from social work specialists, lawyers, and psychologists. The program's main task is not to restrict choice, but to provide women with support and conditions for making an independent decision.

      One of the key directions of the regional strategy has been reducing the number of organizations providing induced termination of pregnancy services. Since the beginning of 2025, 46 of 55 private clinics (84%) in the Nizhny Novgorod region have voluntarily surrendered their licenses to perform abortions. At the same time, some medical institutions continue to perform the procedure only for medical indications — when the woman's health is at risk or as part of IVF.

      The Institute recalled that on August 22 in Sarov the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, Gleb Nikitin, presented to the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, a comprehensive program to improve the demographic situation. It includes financial support for families — the parental basic income (regional family capital) "Osnova" and the "Gift to the Newborn" certificate, as well as eliminating the waiting list for IVF and other initiatives.

      The President noted that these are effective measures that could later be discussed at the federal level and used in other regions.

      The director of the Institute for Demographic Development, Evgeny Zhuravlev, emphasized that the increase in the number of women deciding to continue their pregnancies after consultations speaks to the quality of medical and psychological care. According to him, the Institute's goal is to create conditions under which the issue of abortion arises as rarely as possible. Competent and respectful counseling allows a woman to approach the choice thoughtfully, relying on an understanding of her situation and the available support options.

      Work to improve the demographic situation is being carried out in the region as part of the national "Family" project. By decision of Governor Gleb Nikitin, 2025–2030 has been declared the Five-Year Family period in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

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