Abortions in Russia

This past Sunday evening my friend Christina and I went to visit a friend in a maternity hospital. Our friend is now 7 weeks pregnant but over a week ago she started spotting. She went to see a doctor and the doctor did an ultrasound. At that time she wasn't even 6 weeks pregnant and the doctor recommended an abortion thinking that the baby wasn't growing. Of course our friend and her husband refused and instead she was admitted into a special hospital for pregnant women. She was put on bed rest and was admitted into a room with 10 other women. Actually, she almost had to wait a day to be admitted because on that particular day the hospital was overbooked with women having abortions. Thankfully they found a bed for her. Her husband made a statement that he had never been in one room with so many murderers.

Hospitals here in Russia are very different from the ones back in the States. I know from firsthand experience. Hospitals are downright scary here but thankfully this particular hospital is decent and our friend has been pleased with the care she is receiving. She went on to tell us that in the room there are several women who have had abortions. One woman is over 40 and is pregnant with her second child. She really wants this baby but is now having some problems with the pregnancy. The woman seems to think it's because of the numerous abortions she has had in the past. Who knows? Other women, well girls, are as young as 14 and 15 and are at the hospital to have abortions. Since my friend has been there 8 days now she has had many opportunities to talk to a lot of women. Some of the excuses the women have given to have abortions were:
1. My husband/boyfriend doesn't want a child.
2. Pregnancy isn't planned so therefore it isn't convenient to have a child.
3. No money.

As we stood there in the waiting hall (we couldn't go to the room, she had to come out and meet us), I couldn't help but look around the room and wonder which one of the several women visiting with their husbands/boyfriends had already aborted their babies. I was really overwhelmed with sadness.

Before we moved to Russia we were given a statistic that on average a Russian woman has had 8-9 abortions. Yesterday, Jon's language teacher told him that there are 5,000 abortions a day in Russia............do the math. That's 1,825,000 murdered babies a year. The population in Russia is actually declining and it is a huge concern for the government.

Back to my friend. Yesterday she had another ultrasound. The baby looks great and is thriving! By the time you read this she should hopefully be home and praising God for the life that is growing in her womb.