Russia: Restrictions to online EC information and care.
January 2026. According to the independent outlet Meduza, “since September 2025, Russia’s federal censorship agency, Roskomnadzor, has blocked websites accused of “promoting refusal of childbirth””, including pages that provided information on and access to emergency contraception (EC) pills.
The Emergency Contraception Storage Fund, a grassroots initiative to secure access to EC pills, was forced to shut down its page on VK (VKontakte)—the largest social network in Russia and across the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)—and move its content to a website hosted abroad. Ten days later, Roskomnadzor blocked that website as well, effectively cutting off another channel for accessing EC.
These actions form part of a broader state strategy aimed at tightening control over reproductive rights, with growing pressure on organizations that provide information on contraception and bodily autonomy.
Read here the full Meduza article published on January 6: “If the man decides, the woman will give birth: How the Kremlin made women’s bodies part of its demographic strategy”.
