Criminalizing opinions about mandatory childbearing

This piece about Vladimir Putin’s successful campaign to make it illegal in Russia for people to express negative views on childbearing is a reminder that a key aspect of the authoritarian destruction of legal values is sheer vagueness: if the law is written in such a way that no one can have much confidence about what it means, that creates a huge zone of uncertainty in which the tyrant has the freedom to punish enemies and reward friends via inconsistent enforcement:

President Vladimir Putin of Russia recently signed a bill into law that will fine anyone who is promoting “child-free propaganda.” Meant both to shore up “traditional values” and to increase Russia’s tanking birthrate, it stipulates that any individual found to be disseminating such “propaganda” may be subject to fines of up to about $4,000; considering the average monthly Russian salary as of 2023 was around $800, that’s a frightening potential penalty. Companies could be fined up to about $50,000. This law joins other Russian legislation that attaches fines to expressions of support for the “international L.G.B.T. social movement,” such as posting a rainbow flag online.

The new law gives no clear examples of what “child-free propaganda” could mean. Would a single, childless Russian movie character enjoying his life be against the rules? Would a woman writing on a message board about struggling with postpartum depression be verboten? Would a parent making a video about how difficult it is to make ends meet on the aforementioned low monthly salary be penalized?

It’s also a reminder that mandatory childbearing for the right kind of women is as central to authoritarian reaction/neo-fascism as eugenic suppression of childbearing by the wrong kind of women is to the other side of the same “family values” coin.