“The terrible burden of being a woman”: Childbirth and abortion in the late USSR through the prism of Leningrad feminists’ underground publications (1979-1982)

Anna Sidorevich

doi:10.5077/journals/connexe.2023.e932

Auteurs

Anna Sidorevich Sciences Po Paris

DOI :

https://doi.org/10.5077/journals/connexe.2023.e932

Mots-clés :

féminisme, dissidence soviétique, avortement, accouchement, contraception

Résumé

Le présent article propose une analyse du problème de la maltraitance des femmes lors de l’accouchement et de l’avortement en URSS tardive à travers les publications du mouvement indépendant des femmes de Léningrad, qui circulent sous la forme de samizdat et de tamizdat. Les féministes clandestines de Léningrad ont été les premières à mettre en lumière le problème persistant mais tabou de la souffrance physique, de l’humiliation et de l’indifférence auxquelles les femmes devaient faire face dans les maternités et les cliniques d’avortement soviétiques. La rupture de ce tabou, entre autres, a entraîné leur persécution par le KGB, l’exil et l’emprisonnement de plusieurs membres du groupe. Cependant, les mêmes problèmes ont été ouvertement révélés et reconnus par les autorités soviétiques dix ans plus tard, à l’époque de la glasnost. Cet article examine les principales questions soulevées dans les publications des féministes de Léningrad en les situant dans le contexte politique et discursif soviétique de la fin des années 1970 au début des années 1980. Enfin, il offre certaines pistes de réponse concernant les causes de la persistance du problème de la maltraitance des femmes au sein du système de santé en URSS malgré les déclarations officielles mettant en avant une amélioration continue des conditions des femmes et des enfants soviétiques.

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