On Sept. 27, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill signed the "Citizens’ petition for banning abortion." The move undertaken by Russia's key religious authority has once again put the controversial topic of the legal status of abortion on the national agenda.
The Patriarch’s press service later commented that the petition was only about excluding abortions from the mandatory health insurance system. But at the same time, the Russian Orthodox Church has never concealed its position on the issue: clerics consider abortion to be tantamount to murder. Children's Rights Ombudswoman Anna Kuznetsova also supports the petition, while Health Minister Veronica Skvortsova remains skeptical on the issue.
We asked people out and about in Moscow whether they back the proposed ban on abortion.
