The reactions in the Russian press to the US Supreme Court Decision overturning Roe Vs. Wade and delegating to the states the right to determine constraints, if any, on abortion showed scant attention to the main ideological arguments of the two sides. Only outlets operating outside Russia such as Meduza mentioned women's rights while the conservative Tsargrad posted an opinion hailing the decision. What essentially interested Russian commentators was the effect the decision would have on the United States, Ukraine's most important backer. Expectations that the United States position would weaken as a result both of internal polarization and disaffection among its allies were voiced.
Vzglyad the conservative business daily wrote:
"The United States was engulfed by thousands of protests after the Supreme Court overturned women's constitutional right to abortion. What is happening demonstrates not only that the [internal] schism is deepening and revanchist sentiments in American society are strengthening, but also that serious changes are happening outside the country, leading even to a shift in position on the Ukrainian issue. Many world leaders including those of the United States' closest allies have expressed Irritation and frustration."
The paper cited Vladimir Vasilyev, head researcher at the Institute for the US and Canadian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Vasiliyev believes that American society is now even more divided than it was after the 2020 Presidential Elections. The court decision "widens the cultural gap between liberal and conservative America... What is happening in the US is a sort of counter-revolution or reverse populism. These trends have been intensifying since the last presidential elections. The conservative counter-wave will continue to gain strength – as we approach the midterm elections to Congress in November and even the 2024 presidential elections in 2024."
If the momentum and enthusiasm had been exclusively on the conservative side the court decision had reactivated the liberals. The Democratic coalition, which began to disintegrate under the influence of economic and other negative factors, will now be strengthened due to "a revolutionary spirit, which seemed to have completely fizzled out...The traditionally center-left female electorate, determined to protect their rights, gives the Democrats a chance to put together a coalition and try to adequately meet the red (republican) wave. This "mini revolution" that Biden predicted would create a major collision of forces. [1]
Andrei Klishas, head of the Federation Council's Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building, said that the United States could expect shocks due to the decision on abortion.
Klishas predicted that the consequences of the US Supreme Court decision would be very serious.
"It appears that both the US legal and political systems are in store for real shocks."[2]
Economist Mikhail Delyagin, deputy chairman of the Duma's Economic Policy Committee, who is on the US sanctions list over Ukraine, said it was time to sit back and enjoy America tearing itself apart via the controlled chaos that it had used to destabilize pro-Russian regimes.
"I kept thinking how exactly the Democrats would blow up America in order to prevent the obvious victory of the Republicans in the fall with the impeachment of the Biden and Kamala gangs who stole the elections. Please, here is the first chord: the removal of federal abortion approval by the Supreme Court, after which Missouri and the super-powerful Texas, also obsessed with secession from the United States, immediately banned them. Controlled Chaos is now used against its creators. To say that I am content is an understatement" admitted Delyagin.
He exulted that America is bombing itself, and the instrument of retaliation for America's misdeeds is its enfeeblement. [3]
Mikhail Delyagin (Source: Trud.ru)
In a reversal, the strongly conservative Tsargrad.tv that normally denigrates the US in comparison to Russia, posted an article by Anna Shvabauer, a member of the Federation Council's Expert Consultative Council on Family Rights hailing the court decision as a step in the right direction. It should be noted that Tsargrad strongly supports the Russian Orthodox Church that is opposed to abortion
Shvabauer wrote: "The US Supreme Court has overturned the constitutional right to abortion throughout the country - the decision is now left to the discretion of the states. The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) is outraged by this decision. It turns out that the WHO is for abortion, and its main sponsor, the United States, is against it?
"Here, of course, there is not a complete ban on abortion, they only effectively transfer this issue to the state level. And then the states will decide. But at least the direction of the solution is very good. And I would like to hope that the states will make reasonable decisions and somehow limit the right to kill children in the womb.
"On which the WHO insists.
"As you know, the World Health Organization has long been working to reduce the population. We have seen what standards of sex education they spread around the world - they can not be called otherwise than corruption.
"That is, we also saw that they are promoting, for example, this topic of combating domestic violence, which, as we know, involves the creation of broad conditions for intervention in families in order to destroy families - we also see their support for non-traditional relationships.
"Does anyone else think the WHO is protecting traditional values and childbearing? Seriously?
"As for the current decision in the United States, it is in line with the protection of traditional values, and WHO will not forgive this. But we can only welcome it. We hope that in Russia one day they will arrive at the conclusion that abortion is murder, that human life must be protected from the moment it arises, that is, from conception. It is scientifically proven that human life begins at the moment of conception. Accordingly, everyone has the right to life, as it is written in our Constitution. And if everyone has [the right to life], then the person in the womb too.
"Therefore, it is completely incomprehensible when someone defends the right to abortion, which is actually the right to kill."[4]
Anna Shvabauer (Source: Ouzs.ru)
Shavbauer's opinion piece was an outlier in that it resembled the debate between proponents and opponents of abortion in the United States. But the general tone was analytical. Professor Konstantin Sonin, who teaches at both the University of Chicago and Moscow's Higher School of Economics claimed that the conservatives' victory was facilitated by modern day contraception methods. Sonin wrote on his Telegram channel:
"But the main reason why conservatives didn't have a chance to use this topic as a banner seventy years ago is because before the advent of modern contraception, and especially female contraception, the issue of abortion concerned all women. It was as real a topic as questions of taxes or education.
"By the early 1980s, abortion was no longer a topic for all women without exception. And it became possible to have this theme as a completely abstract symbol of conservatism. And by 2020, abortions have moved to the most socially unprotected, poor and uneducated countries.
"From the very beginning, for most anti-abortion activists, abortion is something they themselves will never personally experience. Because they are men. And now for those who fight for the right to abortion, this is a topic affecting other social groups.
"Those social groups for whom abortion is a real issue, are politically weak on all issues - it is not surprising that they are also weak on the issue of abortion. This allowed the conservatives to first make the topic purely ideological, unrelated to anything that really concerns their voters, and then win a major victory."[5]
