St. Petersburg’s Legislative Assembly has approved amendments to a draft law introducing fines for inducing women to have abortions. The majority of deputies voted in favor of the document on June 4.

The bill, drafted by United Russia deputies Konstantin Chebykin, Anton Solovyov, and Vsevolod Belikov, aims to strengthen the institution of family and motherhood and increase the birth rate.

The approved amendments clarify that an offense is considered committed regardless of whether an abortion was actually performed. The change modifies the wording from “for the purpose of coercion” to “aimed at coercion.”

The proposed fines for inducing abortion through persuasion, offers, bribery, or deception are: three thousand to five thousand rubles for citizens, ten thousand to twenty thousand rubles for officials, and thirty thousand to fifty thousand rubles for legal entities.

Deputy Vsevolod Belikov noted at an April 30 meeting that similar laws are already in effect in 19 other regions of the country.