ABSTRACT
Soviet women’s reproductive health and fertility have been the subjects of considerable investigation and academic study. Much of the published research focuses on shifts in policy, the availability of state-funded support services and analyses of statistical data. In the Soviet Union, contraceptive practice and general reproductive health fell almost completely into women’s sphere of everyday life and, as often noted, men paid little attention to, were little concerned with and mostly took no responsibility for these issues. One doctor complained greatly about the low uptake of all forms of birth control in the Soviet Union and the detrimental health impact this was having on women who, in the absence of contraception, were subject to repeated abortion. Outside of the major cities and towns, the provision of hospital-based maternity care was poorly developed for most of the Soviet era.
