This week, to gain insights into this country's incredibly polarizing debate over abortion, we’re looking at how reproductive issues play out around the world. It’s part of our occasional series Here, There, where we compare U.S. policy on tough issues to those of other countries.

Russia has one of the highest rates of abortion in the world: 53.7 abortions per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44, according to recent UN statistics. Those numbers, while grim, are much lower than statistics from the Soviet era. In the 1980s, there were 200 abortions for every 100 babies born in the Soviet Union.

In recent years, Russian leaders, worried about the country's declining population, have increasingly begun to view abortion as a threat to national security.

Today, we discuss Russia’a tumultuous history with Michele Rivkin-Fish, a professor of cultural anthropology at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and author of the book Women’s Health in Post-Soviet Russia. She says the story begins in 1920, when the Soviet Union became the world's first state to allow women to terminate unwanted pregnancies.

We want to know your thoughts on our weeklong Here, There series on abortion. To weigh in, call our 24-hour hotline at 312.948.4880 or email us at worldview@wbez.org.