Soviet women had on average seven abortions

Radio Free Europe has an article about the sorry state of Russian family planning. Among the bombshells is the claim that women in the Soviet Union averaged seven abortions in their lifetime, though that factoid is in the blurb on the main page but is nowhere to be found in the article (something unfortunately I've noticed more than once with articles on that site). More babies are aborted than are actually born, and only between 3 and 13% of sexually active women use oral contraception, compared to over half in Europe. The article cites wariness about contraception due to decades of Soviet-made contraception that was ineffective as a reason for the low adoption rate in post-Soviet Russia, though it notes that the abortion rate has fallen from its pre-1991 level. Reliable contraception is now widely available, though at a price of $25 per month for the pill – this in a country whose constitution gives every citizen the right to free healthcare.