The document states that such actions are intended to intensify the church’s activities “in the field of social service and opposition to abortion” and to ensure “closer interaction” of the Saratov diocese with medical institutions (antenatal clinics).
The Russian publication “Version of Saratov” wrote that on November 30, Metropolitan Ignatius spoke at a meeting in the Saratov Regional Duma about the demographic situation in the region. He blamed the decline in the birth rate on “the influence of destructive trends and Western ideas” and “propaganda of all kinds of perversions.” At the same time, he proposed taking measures to reduce the number of abortions and appealed to the regional Health Minister Vladimir Dudakov with a request to allow priests into antenatal clinics so that they could talk with women thinking about terminating their pregnancies.
Another proposal of the Metropolitan was to erect a monument to unborn children near one of the antenatal clinics, for which he promised to find a philanthropist. He recalled that while working in the Rostov region he had already promoted such an idea, but part of the women’s community then opposed it.
