Putin’s “Mother Heroine” Plan: How Russia’s Birth Rate Crisis Targets the Childfree and LGBTQ+ Communities
“Childfree propaganda is a dangerous phenomenon.
The Americans are promoting this.
Our country is vast and their ideology is dangerous.
Under no circumstances should it be allowed to spread”
-Vyacheslav Volodin
Speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament.
The “Mother Heroine” Title
In 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin brought back the “Mother Heroine” title which offers Russian women who have birthed and kept 10 children alive about 1 million Russian rubles (about $12,560 U.S. Dollars as of October 2025).
The “Mother Heroine” title was established in July 1944 in the Soviet Union and continued until its fall in 1991. It was the highest honor that mothers could receive among three awards:
Mother Heroine: awarded to women with 10 or more children
Order of Maternal Glory: for women with 7 to 9 children
Maternity Medal: for women with 5 or 6 children
This medal was not awarded to celebrate motherhood on its own. No, these were awarded because these mothers replaced the wartime losses after millions of Soviet men died in World War II (about 24 million soldiers and civilian casualties). And many of these children the women were rewarded for birthing, especially the boys, ended up being drafted into later conflicts (like Afghanistan, Chechnya, and now Ukraine.) Reminder: this medal was in place through 1991 which as of 2025 was 34 years ago.
Back to Putin reviving the “Mother Heroine” title, there are of course some stipulations including that the children must have an undefined “appropriate” amount of health care, appropriate education, physical, spiritual, and moral development (CNBC). All 10 children must also be alive unless they died in some kind of military or civic service, or in a terrorist attack, to qualify for the title.
The 2022 timing is not random to anyone who has been paying attention. It came months after Russia invaded Ukraine and the resulting casualties. So again, I am going to bring this back to the main point where this is not about supporting women’s well-being or choice in the matter, it’s about replacing the war-depleted shrinking population in the country. Women’s bodies are just mere instruments and incubators.
In other words, these new “Heroine Mothers” are being urged to replace the sons already lost, perpetuating an endless cycle of women birthing soldiers, not children for joy or choice. They are raising more pawns in an repeating cycle of patriarchy attempts at domination, and nonstop violence.
Crackdown on “Childfree Propaganda”
On November 12, 2024, the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, approved a bill banning “propaganda in favor of a childfree lifestyle.”
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has expressed deep concern because this law is considered to be a serious violation of freedom of expression. The law is also a direct threat to women’s sexual and reproductive rights (FIDH).
Financial penalties include up to 400,000 Russian rubles for individuals (around $5,000 U.S. Dollars as of October 2025) and 5 million rubles to companies (about $62,800 U.S. Dollars as of October 2025).
And in a shocking revelation to absolutely no one, this is led by the ultra-conservative agenda in Russia which claims motherhood is the fundamental most important thing a woman can do for her country.
Additionally, in November 2022, Putin signed a decree titled (Google Translate) “Foundations of State Policy for the Preservation and Strengthening of Traditional Russian Spiritual and Moral Values”. And a fun one to plug into Google Translate, I’ve cited the source below if you want to read the entire thing but I can tell you two items of note include:
Item #13 states “A threat to traditional values is posed by the activities of extremist and terrorist organizations, individual media and mass communications, the actions of the United States of America and other unfriendly foreign states, a number of transnational corporations and foreign non-profit organizations, as well as the activities of some organizations and individuals in Russia.”
Item #14 then goes on with “Ideological and psychological influence on citizens leads to the imposition of a system of ideas and values alien to the Russian people and destructive for Russian society (hereinafter referred to as destructive ideology), including the cultivation of selfishness, permissiveness, immorality, denial of the ideals of patriotism, service to the Fatherland, natural continuation of life, the value of a strong family, marriage, large families, creative work, Russia’s positive contribution to world history and culture, destruction of the traditional family through the promotion of non-traditional sexual relationships.”
According to FIDH, Valentine Matvienko, Chairwoman of the Federation Council, upper house of Parliament, said regarding the childfree movement, “this movement does not align with the current expectations of women.”
I thought that was an interesting choice of words.
Critics and people with critical thinking skills remain skeptical that this legislation will give Russia the boost in birth rates that they are pressing for. Because like a lot of American women, Russian women cite financial uncertainty as a huge reason against having children.
One Russian woman, in an interview with the Moscow Times, asked what she could possibly provide a child beside a roof over their head. No one would be able to take care of them because she has to work over 15 hours a day. She also argued that if the only thing a parent does is fight to survive and worry about feeding a child, then why would they want to have a child?
And once again, no surprise, the real experts say that the declining birth rate is not in fact due to the childfree ideology, but economic factors. Just like what we have been discussing about the United States.
The Moscow Times interviewed Tanya Lokshina, a prominent Russian human rights activist, journalist, and researcher, last year, and she mentioned there was even discussion about Russia implementing a “childfree tax”. This tax is exactly what it sounds like and was also enforced during the Soviet era, but the kicker is it’s not just for the childfree, but for the people who only have one child. Because according to the Kremlin, a “traditional family” has having two or more children.
Probably because the replacement birth rate needs to be 2.1 or higher, but what do I know?
This proposed tax would be around 30,000-40,000 Russian rubles (about $376 - $502 U.S. Dollars as of October 2025) and this cost is supposedly the maintenance fee of “an additional child in someone else’s family.”
…Oh, and this tax would also be imposed on families who cannot have kids for medical reasons too.
Lokshina summarized that essentially the Kremlin is “cleansing” the Russian cultural landscape of anything that does not align with the Kremlin’s definition of “traditional values.” That includes LGBTQ+ rights, the childfree lifestyle, or anything deemed hostile or foreign by the Kremlin. The “traditional” Russian family is defined by one that has a lot of kids and a woman who is solely devoted to her role as a wife and mother.
…And if you’re an American, this should ring an all-too-familiar bell.
Why ALL women, especially americans, should be concerned
Interestingly enough, proponents of these bills also called the declining birth rates a matter of “national security” which echoes, almost verbatim, what RFK Jr. is calling the declining birth rate in the United States, “a national security concern”. Why is America trying so hard to be like Russia all of a sudden?
By the way, if you haven’t read my previous post, I highly suggest:
The Declining Birth Rate Isn’t The Problem — The Patriarchy Is
Look, I am aware of the childfree bias that I possess, but like I have reiterated time and time again here, this is about choice.
I am here to share my perspective, of course for me the childfree lifestyle makes the most sense. But IF I DID WANT A KID, I will tell you that my hesitation now would primarily be the economic future and uncertainty of the times here in the United States.
I would argue that now is probably one of the absolute worst times in American history to have a child, and my heart and thoughts are honestly with parents trying their best in this economy because I could not imagine how you all are doing it.
I hope we have a president in the future that will promote and enact policies that support you better.
Stay tuned and consider paid subscription, I will be posting a subscriber-only deeper opinionated piece on this topic in a few days.
References:
Mother Heroine | Wikipedia
Order of Maternal Glory | Wikipedia
World Wide Deaths in World War II | The National WWII Museum
Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan | Britannica
Chechnya | Brittanica
Russia offers Mother Heroine medal and $16,000 for having 10 children | Aug 2022 | CNBC
Russia: Ban on “propaganda” in favor of childfree lifesyles | Nov 2024 | International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
Foundations of State Policy for the Preservation and Strengthening of Traditional Russian Spiritual and Moral Values | Nov 2022 | Kremlin
Russia Takes Aim at ‘Childfree’ Ideology in Controversial Bid to Boost Birth Rates | Oct 2024 | Moscow Times
‘Our Work Remains Crucial’: Tanya Lokshina of HRW on Defunding Human Rights in Russia | Nov 2024 | Moscow Times
For childless families, it was proposed to introduce a tax of up to 40 thousand rubles | Oct 2024 | Holod Media
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