Politics, policies, pronatalism, and practice

Availability and accessibility of abortion and reproductive health services in Turkey

Bibliographic Data

ID3973092
AuthorsKatrina A Macfarlane (University of Ottawa), Katrina MacFarlane (University of Ottawa), Mary Lou O’neil (0000-0003-3681-9520, Gender and Women’s Studies Research Center, Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey), Deniz Tekdemir (Independent Consultant, Istanbul, Turkey), Elvin Çetin (Independent Consultant, Istanbul, Turkey), Barış Bilgen (University of Ottawa), Angel M Foster (0000-0001-8848-203X, University of Ottawa, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume24
Issue48
Pages62-70
Publication date2016-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueReproductive Health Matters (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0968-8080 • E-ISSN: 1460-9576
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1016/j.rhm.2016.11.002
PMID28024680
OpenAlexW2560756745
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited8

Turkey has maintained liberal contraception and abortion policies since the 1980s. In 2012, the government proposed to restrict abortion; a bill limiting abortion was later drafted but never passed into law. Since the proposed restriction, women have reported difficulty accessing abortion services across Turkey. We aimed to better understand the current availability of abortion and reproductive health services in Istanbul and explore whether access to services has changed since 2012. In 2015, we completed 14 in-depth interviews with women and 11 semi-structured interviews with key informants. We transcribed all interviews and completed content and thematic analyses of the data. Key informants had good knowledge about the political discourse and the current abortion law. In contrast, women were familiar with the political discourse but had mixed information about the current status of abortion and were unsure about the legality of their own abortions. There was consensus that access to services has become more limited in the last five years due to the political climate, thus advocacy to prioritize reproductive health services, and abortion care in particular, in the public health system are needed

Abortion · Economic growth · Economics · Environmental health · Family planning · Political science · Politics · Population · Pregnancy · Reproductive health · Reproductive rights · Research methodology · Sexual and reproductive health and rights · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Global Maternal and Child Health · Healthcare Systems and Reforms · Law · Medicine