Kateryna Ruban

Kateryna Ruban's book project explores the role of abortion in Soviet life, especially in relation to the proclaimed goal of female emancipation. The book is mainly based on a memoir written by the medical doctor Nina Holopatiuk who came to work in a Transcarpathia hospital in 1951. The story of a Soviet Ukrainian woman who performed abortions––and had an abortion herself––allows Ruban to write a history of abortion in which the main character is not only a doctor and representative of the state but also a patient who depended on decisions and policies from above.

This fellowship is generously funded by the City of Vienna.

My project explores the history of abortion in the USSR (starting before 1917 and going into the 1980s) through both official policies and a local microhistory, with the ultimate intention of understanding the current politics and public debates concerning abortion not just in the post-Soviet space, but also in the US, Europe, and other parts of the world. I want to show that the 1920 decree that legalized abortions for the first time in the world is still important and the Soviet history of abortion can help understand the current uncertainty over women’s reproductive rights.

This was a Ukraine in European Dialogue Solidarity Fellowship. These fellowships are offered by invitation for notable scholars, cultural figures, and public intellectuals from Ukraine.