Russia's Orthodox patriarch has called on members of the Russian
parliament to press for a total ban on abortions, warning that the high
numbers perpetrated annually are impeding the country's moral and social
development.
"I've appealed to deputies several times to consider restricting
abortion, and I've seen some progress made in highlighting this evil",
Kirill I told State Duma members on 26 January.
"This would not be some
revolutionary step, but a necessary return to normality, without which
it will be impossible for men and women to achieve happiness".
The patriarch said Russia's predominant Orthodox church was
independent from the state, but believed action should be taken against
the "cynical principle" of sacrificing children's lives for personal
wellbeing.
He added that he had signed a petition last September against
the "legal murder of children before birth" and would also demand tax
relief for low-income families and an end to state-sponsored abortions.
"Co-operation between church and state, established over the last
20 years, entirely accords with the secular constitutional principle
which is important to both parties", Patriarch Kirill told MPs, speaking
at the opening of 2017’s Nativity Parliamentary Meetings.
"However,
while the church stands outside the state, it has a moral responsibility
to raise its voice when people's lives are impaired," he added.
The Orthodox church has traditionally been tolerant towards
abortion in Russia, which became the first country to allow abortion on
demand under the Soviet regime in 1920, and currently has the world's
highest rates, according to United Nations data, with up to 1.2 million
abortions registered each year in a population of 143 million.
However,
in summer 2015, pro-life campaigners circulated a mass petition against
the practice, warning that the presence of family planning staffers and
pro-abortion healthcare workers at Orthodox services was "disorientating
and manipulating consciences".
Opposing abortion is expected to provide a link with Catholics,
with whom Russian Orthodox leaders have repeatedly urged co-operation in
defending traditional Christian values in Europe.