Sakhalin School Principal Fined for Showing Abortion Video to Students

In Oha, the Sakhalin region, the director of School No. 7, Elena Merena, was fined 7,000 rubles for showing students a video containing abortion footage. The fine was imposed nearly nine months after the incident, and the court ruling took effect following an appeal.

The local prosecutor’s office determined that showing such content violated the law protecting children from information harmful to their health and development. The court found Merena guilty under Part 1 of Article 6.17 of the Administrative Offenses Code and imposed the fine. Students reported being gathered in the assembly hall before lessons without prior warning about the lecture’s content.

According to the local Telegram channel Stoit, students at School No. 7 were shown a close-up abortion video. Several pupils said that high school students were summoned to the assembly hall for a lecture on the harms of abortion without prior notification. The lecture was delivered by Vadim Zharov, a minister of the Evangelical Christian Church and founder of the movement Positive Virus. According to SPARK, the organization is registered in Yaroslavl Oblast and provides consulting and informational services.

Russian authorities have repeatedly cited demographic challenges and declining birth rates in recent years. Against this backdrop, the government has taken measures to reduce abortions. In some regions in 2023, private clinics were partially or fully prohibited from performing abortions, and in certain areas, encouraging abortion is banned. This week, new bills were introduced in the State Duma to prohibit “childfree propaganda.”