Putin orders changes to search results on abortion queries

Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed the government to prepare proposals for changing how search engines display results when users look for information about abortion. The instruction appears in a list of presidential assignments. If adopted, the changes would affect what Russian internet users see when they search for information on ending a pregnancy.

Under the instructions, search engines would have to show sites offering "social support to women facing a reproductive choice" ahead of other results. In other words, links to support services would be placed above other information on the subject.

A similar proposal in May

Valentina Matviyenko, speaker of the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia's parliament, put forward a comparable idea in May 2026. She called on search engines to change their algorithms so that links to family support centers would appear before abortion-related results. Matviyenko explained that when people search for clinics where an abortion can be performed, information about family support centers should come up first, followed by the clinics' websites, including information about the risks of abortion and its health consequences.

A broader campaign against abortion

Russia has been running a broad campaign in recent years to restrict access to abortion. Among other measures, private clinics in 19 regions of the country have stopped performing the procedure altogether.

It is not yet clear in what form or when any changes to search results might be introduced, since the government has so far only been told to draft proposals.