Mizulina came to prominence in 2012 over the drafting of controversial laws concerning the rights of the LGBT community in Russia and the adoption of Russian orphan children by foreigners.

In 1972 she began studying at the Faculty of Law and History of the Yaroslavl State University[4] where she first met her future husband Mikhail Mizulin.

[6] In 1983 she successfully defended a dissertation entitled "The nature of supervisory review in the criminal process (based on the material provided by the Yaroslavl Regional Court)".

[17][18][19] In 1995, she joined the opposition pro-democratic political party Yabloko and the group "Reformi – the new direction" (in Russian "Реформы — новый курс").

[29][30] As a member of the Constitutional Court, she also worked as the Deputy Head of the Legal Department of the Duma[31] and she graduated from the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration in 2005.

[35] On March 17, 2014, during the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, Mizulina became one of the first seven persons who were put by President Obama under executive sanctions.

[54] Defunct Yelena Mizulina in recent times became concerned with birth rates, in her role as Chair of the Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children Affairs.

[33][62][63] In June 2012, the Duma Committee on matters of Family that Mizulina presides, rendered public a project entitled "The State Concept of Family Policy until 2025", which proposes amongst other things, several controversial elements including the following: Opposition journalists including Alexander Nikonov have speculated that the divorce of Vladimir Putin that took place two days after the publication of the legislative project was precipitated by the proposed fine on divorce.

[74] She believes that the phrase "gays are people too" should be considered potentially extremist by the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare.

[76][77][78][79] In July 2013, Mizulina and Olga Batalina, her deputy in the Duma Committee, filed a complaint at the Institution of Criminal Proceedings against the LGBT rights activist Nikolay Alexeyev.

Mizulina stated she wanted Alexeyev's punishment to be "in the form of compulsory work in a place where he can not proceed with propaganda, for example, driving a hearse".

[82] Those opposing the law on On Protecting Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development were also accused by Yelena Mizulina of being part of a "pedophile lobby".

[83][84] In 2012, in regard to the Russian-language Wikipedia protest against the Duma's reading of the bill On Protecting Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development, Mizulina said: This is a coverup.

[85]In June 2013, the writer and former Russian Vice Prime Minister Alfred Koch published an article concerning Mizulina's son that lives in Belgium and works for the large international law firm called Mayer Brown that sponsors pro-gay associations and organizations and is among the hundreds on pro-LGBT rights organizations in Belgium, whilst his mother is waging war on homosexuality in Russia.

[89][90] The journalist Andrei Malgin wrote a piece in his blog entitled "Great: anyone that Mizulina doesn't like is a "pedophile lobby".

Mizulina publicly stated her opinion that the present laws against domestic violence, in which the convicted are subject to fines and a two-year prison sentence, are "absurd" suggesting that such a punishment is excessive for "just a slap.

[74][96][97][98][99] The Russian political scientist Mark Urnov has described the laws instigated by Yelena Mizulina as "diverse, but having a single common quality – their capacity to spread intolerance.

[100] The writer Dmitri Bykov believes that Yelena Mizulina is "constantly providing a legislative form for things that should remain a question of personal choice, which is far more dangerous than any gay pride parade".

[101] In April 2019 Mizulina was widely quoted for her statement in defense of Russian Internet censorship laws, which were characterized as Orwellian by many journalists:[102] What are rights?

[103][104] Her husband Mikhail Muzilin holds a PhD in Philosophy and is a docent at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.

[27][106] This family connection caused a controversy when former Russian Vice Prime Minister Alfred Koch alleged that Nikolay's employer, US law firm Mayer Brown, which supports LGBT rights, might be in breach of the anti-gay laws instigated by Russian government and spearheaded by Nikolay's mother.

[107][86] After the publication, Alfred Koch was interrogated by Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for three hours, based on accusations by Yelena Mizulina.

[108] Also, Mizulina was quoted as saying that Alfred Koch is a part of "paedophile lobby", trying to hinder the Russian government's campaign against sexual criminals.

(in Russian "Концепции государственной семейной политики до 2025 года"), she has defined the 'ideal family' as marriage with the goal of commonly bringing up three or more children'.