Turkish women push back against abortion limits

Jennifer Hattam – UPI – Tuesday, 24 July 2012 (originally published 17 Jul)

Protesters in Istanbul carry signs reading “Abortion is not murder, making it illegal is!” and, on the uterus drawing, “What’s it to you!” Image: WEN/Jennifer Hattam

(WOMENSENEWS}–Beating drums and blowing whistles, hundreds of women marched last month on Istanbul’s central Taksim Square, in one of dozens of rallies that have been held around the country to protest a new threat to reproductive rights.

Abortion until the 10th week of pregnancy has been legal in Turkey since 1983, and little contested until Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan railed against the practice in May, calling it akin to “murder.” Other officials subsequently ramped up the harsh rhetoric, characterizing abortion as a “greater crime” than rape and suggesting that “adulterous” women kill themselves instead of their fetuses.

“As women have more children, they are less likely to finish their education and work outside the home. This lack of alternatives increases their vulnerability to abuse,” said Jenny White, an anthropology professor at Boston University and an expert on contemporary Turkey . . .

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