Ilsur Metshin on the new Crisis Pregnancy Center: “We will fight for every baby”

The Republican Crisis Pregnancy Center has opened at the Clinic of the Medical University in Kazan. There are no such hospitals in Russia, and the experience of the Kazan center is planned to be replicated in other cities of the country. Branches have appeared in seven districts of the republic. Women who doubt the preservation of pregnancy are sent to the new center from the district maternity clinics.

Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of the city, got acquainted with the work of the medical institution and announced the decision to take women who are thinking about keeping a baby under the care of “Good Kazan”.

“It's hard to call it a project – it's a noble cause. I understand perfectly well that a woman who decides to terminate a pregnancy does not do it out of a good life. With colleagues from this center, we will know about every patient who is in a crisis situation. Together with “Good Kazan”, we will provide assistance to mothers in a difficult life situation and at the same time decide to keep pregnant, at all stages. We will consolidate this experience and fight for every baby. There are enough compassionate people in Kazan who are ready to provide targeted assistance. We are able to create such a system in the city so that there are no unwanted children,”- Ilsur Metshin noted.

The renovation works on Butlerova Street and the equipping of the center with modern equipment were carried out with the support of Ilsur Metshin. The offices of a psychologist, an obstetrician-gynecologist, an endocrinologist, a hematologist, a urologist, as well as a procedural, ultrasound and X-ray have been prepared for patients. Women in labor will be able to undergo a set of necessary examinations at the stage of pregnancy and after childbirth.

The new medical facility has been operating in pilot mode since August 2023. During the five months of operation, doctors served 218 women, 92 of them, which is 42.2%, decided to keep the pregnancy. Since the beginning of January, 22 women have contacted the center, half of them have changed their minds and decided to keep the child. Compared to the previous two years, at the beginning of 2024, the number of abortions in the republic decreased by 30%.

The Mayor noted the uniqueness and importance of the project, which helps women make the decision to have a child.

According to the Tatarstan Minister of Health Marsel Minnullin, at first professional psychologists in maternity clinics work with women who are at the stage of reproductive choice. At the second stage, if a pregnant woman decides to have an abortion, she is sent to a crisis center, where doctors warn of health risks, and lawyers and social workers help to understand various aspects of future motherhood.

Patients are given a week to think about a decision so as not to make it “emotionally”. If a woman still decides to have an abortion, then it will be carried out in the same center.

Branches of the center are opening in Tatarstan –in Naberezhnye Chelny, Nizhnekamsk, Almetyevsk, Bugulma, Zelenodolsk, Chistopol and Leninogorsk. The Kazan center includes 12 nearby districts, including Innopolis.