초록 열기/닫기 버튼
This article traces the mutual relations of social and demographic realities and ideology in the changing family- and natal policies of the early Soviet society after the October Revolution. Secularization of marriage procedures and population registration, liberalization of divorce and recognition of equal parental rights for children out of wedlock etc. characterized the revolutionary transformation the Soviet family relations were experiencing by the Bolshevik policies. The legalization of abortion was one of the most controversial issues related with changes of social relations. With the decree signed on the 18th of September 1920 the Bolshevik regime became the first government in the world, which allowed the non-criminalization of artificial termination of pregnancy. The determining factor in this matter was not demographic but ideological and social considerations. As Marxists, the Bolsheviks did not attach great importance to demography and demographic factors as such, and treated Malthusianism or Neo-Malthusian trends with doubts. What mattered was the question of women’s health in the social realm and women’s liberation in the realm of ideology. However, the legalization of abortion did not mean that the ‘women’s right of self-decision’ in the control of their own body was recognized. Rather, it was given as a benefit by the government for women. The supporters of the legalization of abortion firstly considered the difficult situation of poor women who were driven to abortion and exposed to highly dangerous hygienic conditions of operation for it. The opponents, in the main gynecological doctors,laid the ideological discourses aside and argued mainly with medical terminologies. The legalization of abortion by the Soviet government did not mean an anti-natal policy. The Bolsheviks had no reason to oppress the growth of population. They wanted to guarantee women’s participation in the social production labor and to encourage at the same time a pro-natal policy in relation to childbirth. The early Soviet government therefore took a policy of ‘dual encouragement’ for women: encouragement of childbirth and participation in the production work. The connecting link between these two spheres was ‘maternity and children protection’. Discussions on maternity and children protection were incessantly heard and its importance was continuously emphasized. Nonetheless demographic factors were only rarely considered in the policy-making on family and abortion. Contraception was treated from a different angle. Whereas the question of abortion was discussed and debated from the viewpoint of women’s emancipation and the government’s help in overcoming the socioeconomic problems women were confronted with, social and ideological approaches lacked in the discussions over contraception. Contraception itself was not viewed negatively. Demographic discourses were also to be heard over this question. But the spread of contraceptive methods and materials was not effective. Thus till the end of 1920s birth control in demographic perspective was not an agenda of first-rate importance. In the beginning of 1930s remarks on the social harms of abortion and criticisms against it on the demographic basis began to be heard more clearly. After Stalin came to power, Soviet society was marching to the criminalization of abortion and the aggressive pro-natal policies of the mid-1930s.
키워드열기/닫기 버튼
early Soviet family codes, legalization of abortion, early Soviet demographic trends, maternity protection, natal policy
