Reproductive Health and Reproductive Choice of Russian Youth

Nowadays, birth rate is becoming increasingly medicalized, as it increasingly depends on the state of population’s reproductive health and fertility. This contributes to the expansion of reproductive health protection activities, which cover not only the traditional desire to avoid sexually transmitted infections, but also effective family planning, responsible parenthood, healthy offspring, etc. The authors’ survey of medical students (more than 75% of respondents are girls) of the junior courses of one of the Moscow universities, which began in 2024, supplemented by data from official state and industry statistics, showed that about 90% of them intend to have two or three or more children, but more than a third would like to become parents after 27 years, when the process of declining biological fertility of women has already begun. Although professional affiliation implied a good awareness of modern methods of contraception, in practice preference was given to traditional methods, and almost a quarter of respondents did not use contraception at all, citing contraindications or medical prohibitions. Every third woman allowed abortion, but only in exceptional cases, within the timeframes established by law and in a medical institution. The main results corresponded to the general Russian trends in reproductive regulation, which for young ages is aimed at preventing unwanted pregnancy and maintaining reproductive health for future births, and for ages of active reproduction includes additional measures to restore impaired fertility and minimize the risks associated with childbirth and the health of newborns.

reproductive health, birth rate, fertility, abortions, contraception, assisted reproductive technologies