Russian lawmakers seek to ban ‘child-free propaganda’ in effort to combat low birth rates

(LifeSiteNews) — Russian lawmakers have started the process of outlawing child-free “propaganda” in order boost the country’s drooping birth rate, which has hit a 25-year low.

A bill aimed at tackling the problem unanimously passed its first reading in mid-October with 388 votes in the Russian Duma, the lower house of the Parliament, after having been introduced in September. The measure will need to clear two more votes in the house as well as approval by the Russian Senate before heading to the desk of President Vladimir Putin.

Among other things, the bill will issue fines between $4,100 and $51,000 for individuals and businesses that advocate for childlessness. It accomplishes this by adding the term “child-free” to other banned forms of ideology in the country, including pedophilia, LGBT, and gender reassignment propaganda. Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the Russian Duma, has praised the measure for its combatting woke indoctrination.

“It is important to protect people, especially the younger generation, from the ideology of refusing to have children imposed through the Internet, media, films and advertising,” he said on Telegram.

Other lawmakers have said child-free marketing efforts are “destructive” and that Russian families will finally “have freedom of choice without pressure from (the) media” once it passes.

Promoting a child-free lifestyle became fashionable in the U.S. last year when “DINKS” videos went viral on TikTok. DINKs is an acronym that stands for “Double Income; No Kids.”

At the time, scores of young male-female couples, most of whom were white, would record themselves looking into a camera and tell viewers about the purported benefits of their child-free relationship.

pic.twitter.com/18sjKCJZPW

— Matt Lamb (@MattLamb22) December 11, 2023

One couple said that a perk of not having a baby was the ability to “go to Costco” to buy “all the snacks” they wanted whenever they wanted them. Others bragged about spending their disposable income on high-end coffee and golf outings. One video obtained over six million views.

LifeSite journalist Matt Lamb pointed out in an op-ed piece that the DINKs trend is just a form of selfishness.

“Being a DINK … is really about being gluttonous, avaricious, and lacking the ability to live beyond tomorrow,” he wrote. “Having kids does not make our life less fun … life is also not all about wealth.”

The DINK trend was also criticized by X owner Elon Musk, an outspoken proponent of large families.

“There is an awful morality to those who deliberately have no kids: they are effectively demanding that other people’s kids take care of them in their old age. That’s messed up,” he wrote on X.

There is an awful morality to those who deliberately have no kids: they are effectively demanding that other people’s kids take care of them in their old age. That’s messed up.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 5, 2023

Two-time Super Bowl winning kicker Harrison Butker also encouraged young people this past spring during his commencement address at Benedictine College in Kansas to resist not having children.

“I can offer one controversial antidote that I believe will have a lasting impact for generations to come: get married and start a family,” he said. “In the end, no matter how much money you attain, none of it will matter if you are alone and devoid of purpose.”

Butker’s remarks were particularly timely given demographic trends in the West. The Federalist has found that only half of U.S. households are composed of married couples and that the majority of them are without children. In 2018, more than a third of Americans between the ages of 25 and 50 had never been married. Moreover, nearly 1 in 5 adults age 55-64 in 2018 was childless.

To help homeschooling families, President Donald Trump recently pledged to eliminate taxes on up to $10,000 a year for each child for expenses related to their education.

Trump has pledged to parents who homeschool their kids that he will eliminate taxes on up to $10,000 a year per child on all costs associated with their children’s education

“I will also work to ensure that every homeschool family is entitled to full access to the benefits… pic.twitter.com/XNXABQ7bJo

— George (@BehizyTweets) October 31, 2024

On August 19, Putin signed the Shared Values Visa (SVV) to allow foreigners seeking “humanitarian support” temporary residence in Russia. The program is part of a larger “Move to Russia” effort marketed to Westerners who are fed up with woke, feminist, and anti-Christian ideology.

At various times over the past five years, Putin has decried “Western globalist elites” for embracing LGBT ideology, including allowing homosexuals to adopt children as well as “sex-change” operations, which are illegal in Russia. LGBT propaganda is likewise outlawed in Russia, although abortion is legal up until the 12th week of pregnancy. At the World Youth Festival in Russia in March, Putin remarked that everyone is equal because they are born to a “mother and father … it is always a male and a female parent.”