“Childfree propaganda” is now illegal in Russia: But what is it and who will it affect?

On October 17, 2024, the State Duma of the Russian Federation ratified proposed legislation banning childfree propaganda, with 388 votes in support of the bill, none opposed, and no abstentions. The new law stipulates stiff penalties (ranging from approximately 5,000 to nearly 50,000 euros) for the spreading of “childfree propaganda” through any channel, such as news media, internet, film or theater productions, or even advertisements. Furthermore, this law applies according to the concept of “continuing violation” (dlyashcheesya narushenie), meaning that one can be punished for an offense that took place before the law came into effect. For example, a social media post made twenty years ago can now be interpreted and prosecuted as a criminal offense. 

This new bill is just the latest part of a raft of legislation aimed at restricting personal freedoms and speech in Russia under the pretense of protecting society and its children. Other recent examples are laws against “foreign agents” (currently targeting over 400 individuals and over 200 organizations), against the “international LGBTQ movement” (despite the fact that no such movement exists), and against educational activities that promote social strife or propaganda. All these laws are vague by design, meaning that they can be used to entrap anyone at any time for almost anything they have communicated in virtually any medium. As if this wasn’t enough, the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Anna Kuznetsova has announced plans to draft more comprehensive legislation to outlaw all kinds of “destructive propaganda”.

Childfree is a straightforward term referring to the choice not to have children. But what is “childfree propaganda”? Is this a cover term for any kind of message that mentions lifestyle choices that do not include childbearing? What else might it apply to? Advertisements for contraceptives? Support groups for women’s issues? Medical advice about abortion? Complaints about the expenses and challenges of childrearing? In the face of this quandary someone in the Chelyabinsk region put up a poster stating: “There is no such thing as propaganda in support of childlessness!”, adding the universal “NO” symbol over the words for Censorship and Repression.

Questions like these might seem to outsiders like an overreaction, but numerous groups on social media with even a tangential connection to fertility have in the past week engaged in self-censorship in advance of the law. One prominent example is #joyofmotherhood (#shchast’ematerinstva) on VKontakte, a forum addressing topics such as childbirth, postpartum depression, and parenting. The administrator has taken it down, citing the impossibility of moderating the 100 million posts generated over the course of 9 years by the group’s 150,000 subscribers and the “monstrous fines” they could be exposed to.

One might ask: what is the supposed threat that the new legislation is aimed at? When in August a court in the Tver’ region undertook a preliminary strike against social media groups with childfree memes, they found and shut down only three: one called “Childfree-HUMOR” with 126 subscribers, and two simply called “childfree” (42 subscribers) and “Childfree” (18 subscribers), and none of these groups had any recent activity. According to data collected by the research group “To be exact” (Esli byt’ tochnym), only 2.4% of women and 3.5% of men in Russia choose not to have children, and 90% of women aged 45-49 have given birth to at least one child. How can insignificant numbers of adherents to a non-violent personal lifestyle choice pose a real threat to Russia? Childfree is just one of many such imagined dangers to society that have drawn the regime’s attention. While the most obvious example is perhaps the LGBTQ community, another recent target is quadrobics, an activity that involves moving on all fours like an animal. Nikita Mikhalkov, a Russian filmmaker and self-styled speaker for “traditional values” has equated quadrobics with LGBT behaviors, designating both “unnatural”. Such quixotic quests for dreamed-up foes can’t just be laughed off as delusions because they entail serious consequences.

As Mikhail Fishman remarked in his broadcast on TVRain on October 18, deputies of the State Duma who have labeled the childfree movement “liberal fascism” seem to have gotten their history lessons mixed up. It is the Duma who are mimicking Nazis with their persecution of homosexuals and state-sponsored policies to weed out childlessness. Russia, like many countries, is facing a demographic downturn, but no country has ever succeeded in raising birthrates by coercion, and condemnation of childfree life choices cannot be interpreted as an earnest effort to boost fertility. These moves are better understood as part of an overall plan to shut down all opposition and alternative voices.