The authors behind two separate packages of amendments to Russia’s Family Code have withdrawn their initiatives from the State Duma following backlash over proposed changes that would impact child protective services and the rights of transgender people. The withdrawn documents include amendments to the Family Code prepared by the Duma’s Legislation Committee Chairman Pavel Krasheninnikov and Senator Andrey Klishas, as well as a package of bills introduced by a group of Federation Council members led by conservative Senator Elena Mizulina. Krashennikov and Klishas introduced their bill in July 2020. According to the draft law, guardianship and custody agencies (or police officials) wanting to remove a child from their family due to an immediate threat to their life or health would have to seek a district court order issued in accordance with a special procedure. “The senators and I considered it expedient to withdraw our initiatives to relieve tension in society and for further improvements with the expert community,” Karshennikov said in a statement on the initiative’s withdrawal, as quoted by the Russian state news agency TASS.