Georgy Filimonov, the Governor of the Vologda region, announced a dramatic decrease in the number of abortions performed in the area, reporting a drop of over 90% since the beginning of 2024. He provided specific figures, stating that while 138 such procedures were carried out in May of the previous year, May 2025 saw only 9.
Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Governor Filimonov stated, «We aim to lower this indicator each month to eventually bring it down to zero, naturally excluding cases based on medical necessity or resulting from criminal acts against women.»
He also highlighted the region`s demographic challenges, noting a reduction of 50,000 women of fertile age over the past decade. «The region is vast, covering 144.5 thousand square kilometers, and yet we are losing 8.5 thousand people annually,» the governor added.
In the Vologda region, 25 state and 16 private medical organizations currently hold licenses to perform abortions. The number of annual procedures has shown a decline: 2378 in 2022, 1709 in 2023, and 1505 in 2024. In February 2025, however, Georgy Filimonov went further, urging clinic administrators to «completely give up» their abortion licenses. He reiterated that «exceptions» should only apply to «medical contraindications and pregnancies following criminal acts against women.»
In the same month, State Duma Deputy Alexey Kanaev (United Russia party) petitioned the Prosecutor General`s Office to investigate medical facilities in the region for instances of unlawful refusal to perform abortions. A subsequent check by prosecutors uncovered six cases identified as «illegal denial of a medical service» and one case of «unjustified referral for the procedure to a different institution.»
