In OTL the Soviets legalized abortion in 1920, Stalin banned it in either 35 or 36 to boost population growth, and it was legalized again in 55. What if the Soviets under Stalin criminalize abortion only for Russians to increase the Russian share of the population and kept the policy going until the end of the Soviet Union? I don't know of anyone in the Soviet Union who proposed this, but I believe the Nazi's adopted a policy like this for obvious reasons.
Given that Russia had (and has) one of the highest rates of abortion in the world, how much of an impact can this have? IIRC ethnic Russians has averaged over two million abortions per year since legalization. Nowhere near all of them would be prevented, but at least a large number of them would be prevented by banning it to make it far more costly (dangerous for unground abortions, prison sentences for having them).
If Russia did this from 1936-1990, could the Soviet Government get away with this, or would this cause rebellions? And how much could Russia increase its share by? Perhaps we could have an extra 60 million Russians by 1990 and 100 million by today, giving them the demographics they need to keep larger parts of their empire?
Obviously, this idea is repulsive to both prolife and pro choice advocates, but is it remotely workable for the Soviet Union? Could we perhaps set up a continued Russian dominance of Central Asia, Ukraine/Belarus, Baltic trio, and Caucus Trio even if the Soviet Union still falls, with a solid Russian majority (~250 out of 390 million people being Russian in such a continued Union even if the policy is ended by 1990)?
Given that Russia had (and has) one of the highest rates of abortion in the world, how much of an impact can this have? IIRC ethnic Russians has averaged over two million abortions per year since legalization. Nowhere near all of them would be prevented, but at least a large number of them would be prevented by banning it to make it far more costly (dangerous for unground abortions, prison sentences for having them).
If Russia did this from 1936-1990, could the Soviet Government get away with this, or would this cause rebellions? And how much could Russia increase its share by? Perhaps we could have an extra 60 million Russians by 1990 and 100 million by today, giving them the demographics they need to keep larger parts of their empire?
Obviously, this idea is repulsive to both prolife and pro choice advocates, but is it remotely workable for the Soviet Union? Could we perhaps set up a continued Russian dominance of Central Asia, Ukraine/Belarus, Baltic trio, and Caucus Trio even if the Soviet Union still falls, with a solid Russian majority (~250 out of 390 million people being Russian in such a continued Union even if the policy is ended by 1990)?