Russian MPs vote to ban promoting child-free lifestyle

A new manifestation of the Russian government's campaign to defend what it presents as “traditional values”, this text threatens with a heavy fine people and organizations who defend “the 'childless' ideology”.

On Tuesday, November 12, Russian deputies adopted a law banning the promotion of a child-free lifestyle, against a backdrop of the demographic crisis in Russia amplified by the conflict in Ukraine, and the Kremlin's defense of “traditional values”. This text is part of the ultraconservative turn of Russian power on social issues, taken under the leadership of Vladimir Putin since the large-scale assault on Ukraine in February 2022. To enter into force, it must still be adopted by the upper house on November 20, then signed by the Russian president.

According to this law, individuals who engage in the promotion of a child-free lifestyle would risk a fine of 400,000 rubles (around 4,000 euros), and civil servants double that. For legal entities, the sanction could be increased to five million rubles (47,000 euros). Political and religious leaders see in the defense of so-called values “traditional” an extension of Russia's struggle against the West, accused of moral “decadence”. The rights of the LGBT community have notably been reduced to nothing.

The law also aims to respond to Russia's significant demographic decline, which Vladimir Putin has never managed to remedy since he came to power a quarter of a century ago. In 2023, the fertility rate in Russia was 1.41 children per woman of childbearing age, far from the population renewal rate, according to estimates from the Russian statistics agency (Rosstat), cited by the economic daily RBC.

“A strong family was proclaimed as a traditional value” in Russia in 2022, underline the authors of the text in an explanatory note. Gold, “one of the threats to traditional values ​​is the promotion in Russian society of the 'childless' ideology, which leads to a degradation of social institutions (…) et creates circumstances for depopulation”they say.

In the crosshairs of the promoters of the law, communities and groups who would expose themselves to heavy fines for doing what is described as promoting a way of life “Childfree” and who would have an aggressive attitude towards “those who realize their need to be mother or father”whether on the internet, in the media and books, in films or in advertisements.