Sep 30
Experts: 64 Percent of Russian Pregnancies End in Abortion
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By Galina Stolyarova, Staff Writer

The number of infertile women in Russia is growing by 200,000 to 250,000 each year, with the main cause being complications from abortions, Marina Tarasova, deputy head of the St. Petersburg Reseach Institute For Gynecology and Obstetrics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said on Monday.

Speaking at an international conference highlighting new methods of oral contraception, Tarasova warned that by the end of 2007 there were already more than 5.5 million infertile couples in Russia.

The low birth rate remains one of the key reasons behind Russia’s ongoing demographic crisis. According to official statistics, every fourth teenage girl in Russia has some form of gynecological ailment or reproductive health disorder.

Each year in Russia, more than 64 percent of all pregnancies end in abortion, while in Western European countries the level is below 25 percent. By comparison, there are 10 to 15 abortions per 100 pregnancies in the U.K. and 5 or 6 per 100 in the Netherlands.

One in ten women who undergo an abortion in Russia is below 18 years of age, doctors say. Gynecological disease rates for teenage girls in 15-17 age group, have jumped by an alarming 30 percent in the last five years.

Olga Kurbatova, a researcher at the Institute of General Genetics, said that two major reasons contribute to the high abortion rate: Russians’ traditional risk-taking attitude to their own health and the unavailability of effective birth-control pills to most Russian women due to their relatively high price. Birth control remains traditionally a task for women in Russia, she added.
The best way to reduce the number of abortions and children living without parental care in the country is to develop a culture of family planning, and particularly to instill the habit of using contraceptives.

Doctors admit, however, that most Russian women avoid using contraception, especially birth-control pills, because of widespread prejudice and fear of side effects. In the meantime, abortion remains a common method of birth control.

The Russian government has been struggling to advertise family values and has campaigned for citizens to have more children. This year was officially designated “The Year of the Family.”
According to official statistics, only 40 percent of pregnancies are planned. However, one in ten planned pregnancies ends up in a miscarriage.

“Over the past five years, female infertility in Russia has increased by 14 percent, and over 1.5 million Russians need advanced medical technology to become pregnant and maintain a healthy pregnancy,” Tarasova said.

Some experts believe introducing obligatory high fees for abortions would help and encourage more women to use regular contraception.

Abortions are currently free for Russian citizens at all state clinics.

At the same time, infertility treatments are expensive and far beyond what average Russian families can afford. Skeptics say, however, that paid-for abortions, however high the fee, would not help to increase the birth rate.

Russians marry early, but are also often quick to divorce, in comparison with citizens of countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, according to a recent UNICEF report.

Kurbatova said early marriages that are attempts to legitimize sexual relations between emotionally immature and socially and economically dependent young people are prone to quick breakups, and children born in these unstable unions often become an undesirable burden for parents.

The UNICEF study also found that the share of children deprived of parental care in Russia is the largest among the surveyed countries: More than 420,000 — or one in 70 — children under 17 live in children’s homes, orphanages and boarding schools.
Sep 22
Abortion foes begin to make their case in Russia
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Sergei L. Loiko / Los Angeles Times
Young mothers and their children in the Russian town of Tutayev. A fledgling antiabortion movement is beginning to stir in Russia. Driven by a growing discussion of abortion as a moral issue and, most of all, by a government worried about demographics, doctors and politicians are quietly struggling to lower what is believed to be one of the world’s highest abortion rates.
Doctors and politicians are quietly working to change the nation’s casual attitude toward the procedure.

By Megan K. Stack, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
9:00 PM PDT, September 20, 2008

MOSCOW — Physician Marina Chechneva remembers the old-style Russian gynecologists who worked in state hospitals and churned out back-to-back abortions like Soviet factory workers. She remembers the women who “used to use abortion as a kind of vacation, because in the U.S.S.R., they got three days off from work.” Chechneva, head researcher at the Moscow region’s Institute of Gynecology and Obstetrics, performs abortions as part of her medical practice. These days, she is writing magazine articles about fetus development in hope of raising public opposition to abortion. After years of handling fetuses, she explains, she has come to feel a responsibility toward them.

The women “should realize that what they’re doing is already a murder,” she said. A fledgling antiabortion movement is beginning to stir in Russia. Driven by a growing discussion of abortion
as a moral issue and, most of all, by a government worried about demographics, doctors and politicians are quietly struggling to lower what is believed to be one of the world’s highest abortion rates. ”The attitude has changed,” said Alexander Medvedev, a gynecologist who performs the procedures. “Even in community clinics, doctors are trying to dissuade patients from abortion. Now teenagers come to see us with already two or three abortions, and it’s horrible.” It’s an uphill struggle. Doctors say contraceptive use remains unpopular and that many Russian women rely on abortion for birth control. The government is desperate to persuade citizens to bear more children. Russians are dying faster than they’re being born, a trend that has emerged as one of the most serious challenges faced by this sprawling, scantily populated land.

New restrictions
The discussion is devoid of terms such as “pro-life” or “pro-choice.” From doctors to patients to officials, nobody seems to consider seriously the possibility of outlawing abortion. But the government recently imposed new restrictions on the procedures after the 12th week of pregnancy, and toughened the language of a waiver women must sign before terminating a pregnancy. Late-term abortions used to be easily accessible on “social” grounds: A woman merely had to visit a social worker, complain that she wouldn’t be able to raise a child, and she could collect a stamped waiver. These days, exceptions are available only for extreme circumstances, such as the sudden death of a husband or a medical emergency.

In 2007, for the first time in decades, Russia’s Federal State Statistics Service counted slightly more live births than abortions in Russia. But doctors say those statistics are flawed because of the growing number of women who opt for undocumented abortions in private clinics. Many gynecologists have launched their own small efforts to persuade patients to go through with their pregnancies. Although law requires parental consent only for girls younger than 16, many doctors boast that they involve the parents of any patient younger than 19. ”This is the decision of a lifetime,” gynecologist Natalia Smirnova said. “It’s very important for me to show them the ultrasound picture of their fetuses. This stops most of them.” Speaking in her private clinic while women in their 20s filled the waiting room outside, Smirnova pointed to pictures of fetuses taped to her office walls and described the conversation she holds with a would-be abortion patient. ”I ask her to please explain to me and give me the reasons why she can’t preserve her pregnancy. I’m not satisfied with, ‘I’m afraid.’ I want to hear the whole story. ‘What did the father-to-be tell you, what did your mother say?’ There were cases when I myself called her mother in another town. By appealing to her mother, her partner, the future father, you can often succeed in making her change her decision and preserve her pregnancy.”

Repercussions
Women interviewed for this article spoke wistfully, even painfully — but with an underlying grain of pragmatism — about the decision to end their pregnancies. Mostly sheltered from public or political discussions of abortion, they tended to describe the procedure as a medical decision that had surprising personal aftershocks. ”You kill not only a child, a living being, but a part of yourself, something that was alive in you,” said Irina, a 25-year-old Muscovite who has had three abortions. The young women who were interviewed declined to give their last names. “There’s a trauma and a grief you suffer. You murder a child. It was much more difficult than I expected.” Still, Irina repeatedly chose abortion when she felt she was without options — unemployed despite her university degree in accounting, married to first one man and then another who didn’t want the babies. She never used birth control. She became pregnant, then went to the state clinic and waited in line for a no-cost abortion. ”It’s like a conveyor belt,” she said. “Women sit next to the abortion room in a line, and it happens very quickly.”
Sep 10
Thank you letter to The Harbor ministry partners
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Dear ministry partners of The Harbor,

My name is Anastasia and I am twenty-three years old. Before age eighteen I was dying inside from hopelessness and darkness. My heart was stopping to love, care, trust…My hopes and dreams were getting dim and I doubted the existence of God and that He can help me. Five years ago miraculously I ended up at The Harbor. The Harbor believed in me and I have found Jesus after many years of searching for Him. Furthermore, I began to love, trust, smile and breathe again. My first two years at The Harbor were not easy ones, but they were still wonderful. There was a lot of studying, activity, relationship with many people and life like in a normal family. I discovered at The Harbor so much, which is not possible to find in any orphanage. Life at The Harbor was full for me in a good sense.

I am very grateful to God that He gave me the time there because it was a true gift to me. I am amazed that I made it all the way through. It is a memory that I will treasure forever.

I want to express my deep gratitude to every single one of you who has helped The Harbor. Your partnership with The Harbor allows it to exist so that it can change many lives. I am grateful that you are helping me to finish my higher education because I was worried if I could do that. The Lord has used you to make my dream come true. I am forever grateful to you.

Blessings, Anastasia Mudrova
Sep 10
Lauren’s Stay with “The Harbor”
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Dear Luba and The Harbor,

I have greatly enjoyed my time in Russia with The Harbor. I truly believe in this program, because it so amazing to see The Harbor’s participants now, and look at the graduates to see the amazing young men and women of God that they become. What I love about The Harbor are the relationships that the participants experience and the way they turn from a group of strangers into a loving family. Certain values like respect, integrity, and honesty are often only learned firsthand, and The Harbor is a place where these values can be grown and nurtured. The mentors that stay with the kids are all great people, and help instill ways to live a successful life. Bottom line, the harbor is one of the most productive and life changing charities that I know of.

If anything, I would like to see more positive influences in the participants' lives that are their own age, and that they can relate to. Not foreigners like me, or even foreigners that can speak Russian, but people that have lived similar lives in the cities orphanages. What I’m saying is that there should be more interaction between The Harbor graduates and The Harbor participants. Maybe one night week a graduate or two could visit the respective boys and girls Harbor, tutor them in their studies, have conversations about what is happening in their lives, etc. etc. The program that I would equal this to is the Big Sister, Big Brother program in America, where young men and women who are correctly living their lives mentor people around their same ages. For instance, one harbor participant would become the “big sister” of another, like Nastya being the big sister of Yana, or Sasha being the “big brother” of Andrei, and so on and so forth. I have participated in this program and seen it successfully work. Often, relationships that will last for life are built, and the bond between the big brother and little brother or big sister and little sister grows beyond that of a mentor to that of a friend.

This is what I would do if I could change The Harbor in any way. It is wonderful when foreigners come to visit The Harbor and find ways to help out, but I speak from experience when I say that often the participants don’t want anything to do with you because you’re not staying there for long. After all, most foreigners do not in any way relate to these kids. I have lived comfortable life, have parents who love me, and have family who love me. I have no idea what some the participants have been through, because I simply have not experienced it. Your friends are often the people who have been through the same things as you have. And the participants of The Harbor need its graduates. The mentors in the program are all great men and women, but they are not the same age as the boys and girls. Therefore it is sometimes impossible for the mentors and the participants to relate and develop relationships beyond that of a mentor and a student.

Anyway, that is my idea for improvement. I believe in The Harbor as it is, and have worked with its graduates and participants enough to see the differences, and be amazed and how these people change. I am passionate about this program, and would love to continue to help in anyway. The boys and girls were at first distant to me, which I understand, but after a few days they have all warmed up to me, and I will love and cherish my time with them. Thank you for letting me stay, and giving me this experience, and I cannot wait to come visit and help everyone again!

In Christ, Lauren H
Sep 03
Newsletter - August 2008
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0808_harbor_update.pdf

Sep 03
The Power of Relationship
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A few weeks ago I was in MO and on my way to Columbia. I stopped at a First Baptist Church for a Christian apologetics conference. The conference was designed for youth to defend their faith and it had some very inspirational and well known speakers: Alex McFarland who is the president of Southern Evangelical Seminary and Veritas Graduate School of Apologetics, Sean McDowell (Josh McDowell’s son), Ryan Dobson (Dr. James Dobson’s son), Mark Mittelberg who is an international speaker and best-selling author, Josh McDowell, and Lee Strobel.

I came to the conference toward the end in time to hear Josh McDowell. I have never met or heard him before, but am aware of who he is and have worked with many people who have come with Josh to Russia on short-term mission groups. Some of his most popular books include The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict, More Than a Carpenter, Beyond Belief to Convictions. Josh spoke on “The Power and Necessity of Relationship,” in addition to sharing his personal testimony of having been physically and sexually abused. It was not until a year ago that he even told his wife children about this teenage trauma. The Holy Spirit convicted him to do it in order to bring completion to the process of forgiveness and inner healing. Amazed at his story, I want to share with you some of it and hope that you will find it just as powerful as I did.

Relationship forms our beliefs, which forms our values, which forms our behavior, which eventually makes as an individual. We are hardwired to connect to other people. We must develop loving and intimate relationship with our children. The power of relationship is so clear when you look at statistics. If a child is raised in a complete family and has a good relationship with his mom and dad (stressed here because most children do not have that kind of relationship with their dads) he has only a 6% chance of ending up in drugs, crime or violence. Furthermore, a child can handle stress at an older age much better if he/she was raised in a loving, caring and intimate family, including a close relationship with the father.

Relationship should be just as important in our lives as it is for God because He is passionate about His relationship with us. When you try to communicate the gospel without relationship it will be very challenging because our faith is not just true, but also relational and meaningful. 1 Th. 2:8 says, We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. Thus, how we communicate the gospel is just as important as what we communicate. More than 70% of non-Christians do not want to have anything to do with Christians before they even talk to you because they think that Christians are judgmental, hypocritical and legalistic.

We as Christians must build the relationship before bringing the truth because without it most of the time the truth will be rejected. In addition, we must love people with genuine love. This is what non-Christians will understand. Jeremiah 31:3 says, The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness.”

Josh also shared one story that happened to him and hopefully I can summarize it correctly. He was visiting a university in Phoenix, AZ. There were over one thousand students that came to listen to him. He spoke to them outside on the grass and there was no stage setup so he stood on two boulders so that everyone could see him. Before Josh spoke at that university he was warned that frequently there was a group of rockers and punks who come to the campus to protest against religion. Josh basically said, "I am ready to face them.” Sure enough, just as he began to speak, a group of six punks came to him. Josh continued to share his message, but he shifted his message toward those punks and he faced them for the entire time. They just stood there frozen, listening to him. At the end they came to him and asked if they could hug him. Josh said yes and as each punk was hugging him one by one they were crying on his shoulder and Josh was whispering, “I love you.” When these punks heard this they began to weep even louder and told Josh something, “Mr. McDowell, our fathers have never hugged us and have never said, "I love you.” When I heard that it made me cry and it is so true what Josh was saying earlier. The relationship between a child and a father is very important and fathers must hug their children and constantly tell them, "I love you." The relationship with our earthly father is just as important as it is with our Heavenly Father.

Thus, my encouragement for you is to build a relationship with your children if you do not have one because the time will come when it will be late too build such relationship. If your child never had the relationship between his/her father then when he/she grows up he/she will have an identical relationship with their children because children follow the role model that they had. If their role model was practically nonexistent it will be the same for the next generation. Do not let that happen and learn from the mistakes of your forefathers.

I pray for deep, committed and living relationship with your earthly fathers just as you would with your Heavenly Father.
Blessings, Alex