The term “safe abortion” is unscientific and manipulative, it should be excluded from the texts of documents and legal acts, Priest Fyodor Lukyanov, chairman of the Patriarchal Commission on Family Issues, Protection of Motherhood and Childhood, told RIA Novosti.
On Saturday, Father Fedor spoke at the International Medical Scientific and Practical Conference “Abortion and Women’s Health,” which is being held in Moscow. As the organizers clarified, the purpose of the conference is to collect and popularize current scientific materials on the consequences of abortion for women's health.
Chairman of the Patriarchal Commission on Family Issues, Protection of Motherhood and Childhood, Priest Fyodor Lukyanov. Archive photo
“The term “safe abortion” must be excluded from the texts of regulations, letters, protocols and other documents, as misleading. It is anti-scientific and manipulative in nature. Academicians and doctors of sciences said today that it is incorrect. I hope that that these words will be heard by those on whom it depends to bring our legislation into line with traditional moral values, where human life and dignity are given first place,” Lukyanov said.
According to him, abortion always poses a threat to the life and health of the mother and child, “therefore, the position of the Church is always unchanged: abortion was and remains infanticide and should not be paid for by the state.”
The Russian Orthodox Church considers abortion to be the murder of a person, that is, a sin, and advocates a complete ban on abortions performed without medical indications.
As the organizers specified, following the results of the conference it is planned to publish a resolution and publish a collection of scientific articles, which will be sent to state, scientific and educational institutions of the Russian Federation. Subsequently, the organizers intend to develop “significant innovative changes to the fundamental documents and protocols that Russian women encounter in antenatal clinics.”
