(Image source: Sergei L. Loiko / Los Angeles Times ) BY NATHAN BYRNE ANCHOR LAUREN GORES Russia’s lower house of parliament gave initial approval to a bill banning Americans from adopting Russian children. Al Jazeera reports — Russian child-welfare groups are campaigning … “ … against new legislation that would ban United States citizens from adopting Russian children. More than 100,000 children are eligible for adoption, but less than 11,000 found new families last year.” Russia’s State Duma voted 399 to 17 in favor of the bill. A Los Angeles Times reporter calls it retaliation for the so-called Magnitsky law — an anti-corruption law passed by the U.S. Congress. That law is named for Sergei Magnitsky … “ … a Russian lawyer and whistle-blower who died in pretrial custody in Moscow in 2009. [The law] imposed visa restrictions on a group of Russian officials connected to the lawyer's prosecution and death.” A New York Times article calls Russian President Vladimir Putin “evasive,” for saying, “ he would have to read the text of the amendment before making a final decision.” A correspondent for the BBC notes Putin's claim that this isn’t about the Americans who adopt Russian kids … “It’s the issue of United States legislation preventing Russian officials to go and check on the state of Russian kids who have moved to the states.” But a commentator on Sky News claims the move actually endangers the welfare of those children. “This ban means death for hundreds or maybe thousands of Russian orphans. Americans usually adopt very ill children … ” According to local media in Russia, backers of the ban cite 19 deaths of Russian children in the U.S. since the 1990s — calling those foster parents, “abusive.”