Pro-Choice March Held in Kyiv

Activists say that the ban on legal abortions will lead to an increase in the number of dangerous and potentially deadly clandestine abortions.

Today in Kyiv, public activists gathered to protest against the prohibition on abortions. The justification for this was the initiation of an anti-abortion bill by an MP from the Radical Party, Igor Mosiychuk. He said that the termination of a pregnancy is on a par with sexual deviance and that he will propose changes to the Criminal Code that would restrict abortion.

The protest began at Poshtova Square near the funicular. About 50 people came with creative homemade placards displaying pictures and inscriptions stating things such as “A Woman’s Life is more Important than the Feelings of Believers,” “For the Availability of Contraception,” “I am for the Preservation of the Right to Legal Abortion,” “Let’s think about People, not about Morality,” and “It is not for Abortion, but for Choice.” The demonstration mostly involved younger people and some participants brought their children with them.

Activists marched from Poshtova Square to the Zhovten movie theater. They unfurled a large banner in front of the column with reading “My Body – My Business.” During the procession, participants chanted slogans such as “Human Rights First,” “Rebel, Love, do not give away the Right,” “Hands Off My Body,” “You don’t give Birth – You don’t Decide,” and “Stop the Violence, Stop the Patriarchy.”

The procession was joined by the samba band “Rhythms of Resistance,” its members accompanied the protest in colorful costumes while playing musical instruments.

At a small rally near the theater, organizers and activists spoke about why they came to the protest.

“We came to speak against legislative initiatives to ban abortion. Today we came for human rights, for the rights of women to choose. We protest because we must, it is important for both women and men. If abortions are banned, it means that anything else can be banned. It is a violation of human rights. What are human rights? They are when you decide for yourself, for your body, for your life, and no one has the right to say you cannot do that,” said the head of the NGO “Insight,” Olena Shevchenko.

According to Shevchenko, MPs are mistaken when they think that a ban on abortion will increase the birth rate. What would actually help is increasing social standards, paying a decent wages, promoting child welfare, making it so waiting lines for kindergartens are not 5-6 years long, and creating conditions for people to develop. At the same time, a ban will lead to an increase in the number of clandestine abortions, and therefore to higher mortality among women, says Shevchenko.

Activists say that, in the context of patriarchy, women’s rights are repressed, so they came to say “no” to the imposed gender roles and all those stereotypes which we are trained from childhood to accept.

Unlike the situation with Equality March, this time the organizers have taken better care to ensure the safety of demonstration. In addition to LGBT activists, the march against the abortion ban was supported by anarchists. Some of them were wearing balaclavas and were holding red-and-black flags on thick staffs, which could also serve as a means of self-defense.

“There are people from the autonomous union of workers, from the student union ‘Direct action,’ from the organization ‘Black Rainbow,’ and they all came out in support because we organized a similar action when the Svoboda party was planning to pass a similar law. There are now more and more people joining this protest, and it is nice to see,” said activist Dmitro Stesyuk.

After the completion of the rally, organizers suggested that activists fold their placards and not disperse one by one, and instead go together to the nearest metro station. The protest took place without any clashes or provocations.