Private clinics in Kabardino-Balkaria, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Kalmykia, North Ossetia, Tuva, Chukotka, Dagestan, Karelia, and Magadan, Tver, and Kurgan oblasts performed no abortions in 2025, according to the To Be Precise project, citing Rosstat data.
At the same time, the share of abortions performed in private clinics doubled over seven years, from 19% of all abortions in 2018 to 38.6% in 2025. In 23 regions, private clinics account for more than half of all abortions.
According to the Russian Orthodox Church, as of December 2025, all private clinics in 14 regions had allegedly voluntarily relinquished their licenses to perform abortions. However, abortions were still recorded at private clinics in nine of those regions that year.
Vologda Oblast was not among the regions where private clinics performed no abortions. In August 2025, regional head Georgy Filimonov announced that private clinics had relinquished their licenses. Filimonov had promised clinics 1 million rubles each for doing so.
Russian authorities have been discussing the possibility of banning abortion for several years. Formally, the procedure is still covered by mandatory health insurance, but in practice, access to it is gradually being restricted through measures ranging from administrative pressure on doctors to moral and religious pressure on women. Thirty-one regions have introduced fines for “coercion into abortion.”
