Russian Bill Would Punish People for Promoting 'Refusal to Have Children'

Proposed legislation in Russia would prosecute those who defend their decision not to have children, imposing fines worth thousands of dollars upon those who break the law.

The initiative comes after the nation recorded its lowest birth rate for the first half of the year since 1999, according to Reuters. Concretely, 599,600 children were born in Russia in the first half of 2024, 16,000 fewer than the same period of the previous year.

State Duma chairman Vyacheslav Volodin shared news of the proposed legislation on Telegram on Tuesday.

"Thematic public pages and communities on social networks often display disrespect for motherhood and fatherhood, aggression towards pregnant women and children, as well as members of large families." wrote Volodin in Russian. "Fines for violation will amount to up to 400 thousand rubles for individuals, up to 800 thousand rubles for officials and up to 5 million rubles for legal entities."

Volodin went on to compare the law to a 2022 anti-LGBTQ+ one passed in Russia which aimed to prosecute "non-traditional sexual relations" and their promotion.

This is the latest in a series of legislative moves aimed at tackling Russia's declining birth rate.

According to a statement provided to Newsweek by Russian opposition figure and rights defender Nikolai Kavkazsky, the Kremlin is planning "to ban everything that does not fit into its so-called traditional values."

"The authorities have long wanted to ban talking about child-free, talking about the right to choose when it comes to whether to have children or not," Kavkazsky said. "They did not ban it before, because there was a problem with monasticism, which could also fall under this ban, but now they intend to somehow get around it."