No choice

After February 24, 2022, Russian authorities began tightening reproductive policies. In several regions, access to abortion on request has become nearly impossible, forcing women to travel across the country. Pressure on medical professionals is increasing: bureaucracy is intensifying, pro-life organizations are inspecting hospitals, access to emergency contraception is being restricted, and overt propaganda is appearing in medical institutions. At the same time, the state encourages early pregnancies, promising financial support to pregnant schoolgirls and students. These developments are interpreted in different ways: some see them as a de facto restriction on abortion, others as local excesses, while some call for even stricter measures and a complete ban.

Journalist, editor, and feminist activist Anastasia Polozkova, who has lived in Istanbul for several years, sets out to investigate what is happening. Geographical distance allows her to view the situation from the outside, but also raises the question of whether emigration affects the expertise of those who have left and the reliability of their perspectives.

Over the course of a single day, she speaks with activists and researchers both in Russia and in exile, as well as with Turkish and Kurdish feminists, comparing practices of control over women’s bodies across different contexts.

The film by the independent studio raz/rez documents Anastasia’s attempt to answer key questions by analyzing the perspectives of pro-life and pro-choice activists, doctors, officials, and researchers: will abortion in Russia be banned de jure or de facto? Can the decision to have or not have children still be considered a real choice? And how does this decision become a political act?