Americans may not be able to adopt Russian babies anymore if a new measure being considered by Russia’s Parliament passes the Associated Press reports.
On Wednesday, the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, approved a bill for a second reading that would ban Americans from adopting Russian children. This measure is meant as punishment to Americans after the U.S. Congress’ recent approval of human rights legislation that enforces restrictions on Russian officials suspected of human rights violations.
The Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported in October that American parents have adopted more than 45,000 Russian babies since 1999, and Americans adopted 962 Russian children just last year alone.
Russian officials are citing child abuse as a reason for the new ban and claim that approximately 19 Russian children adopted by Americans have died due to abuse by their new guardians since Russia began allowing the U.S. to adopt Russian children in the 1990s.
The President of the National Council of Adoption, Chuck Johnson, explained to RIA Novosti that Russia has “an orphan epidemic in their country” with over 700,000 children in orphanages, and while encouraging greater levels of adoption within the country is “a viable option,” it “will never be the cure.”
Russian officials warned the U.S. they could face consequences after Congress passed legislation earlier this month penalizing Russian officials who have allegedly violated human rights, according to Voice of America. The officials called the new law “an absolutely unfriendly, provocative, unilateral move.”
While Congress voted to lift trade restrictions on Russia that have been in effect since the Cold War, they also passed a measure that punishes Russian officials accused of violating human rights. President Barack Obama signed off on the new legislation just last week.
Now that the State Duma has passed the measure for a second reading, a number of steps still need to be taken before the policy can become law. The Duma must have a third reading before it can finally be approved and sent to the the upper house, where it would need to pass again before Putin could sign off on the measure making it law.
Before the legislation becomes law, Obama still has the opportunity to prove to the the Russian President he will have “more flexibility” in his second term. He could also ask Mitt Romney to talk to Putin about this issue considering that according to Vice President Joe Biden, Romney and Putin are “best buddies”.
