Pro-choice Association Reveals Illegal Procedures in Turkey

Kürtaj Haktır Karar Kadınların (Abortion is a Right, Choice belongs to women) Platform, a pro-choice association based in Istanbul, claimed that the government left an impression amid public that the abortion was banned in Turkey, saying that the debates on the issue created invisible obstacles for women to use their abortion rights.

On Tuesday, the association organized a special session in Istanbul to promote their latest pamphlets and videos aimed to inform pregnant women. Women rights activists Selin Dağıstanlı, Ayşe Düzkan, Filiz Ayla and Deniz Bayram held sessions, talking about the challenges women face after their decision.

The session emphasized that women who decide to proceed with abortion face challenges including marriage certificate interrogation, refusal of abortion request exceeding 8 weeks (even though the official limit is 10 weeks), procedural obstacles (if the applicant woman is unmarried) and rude treatment. The association claimed that especially public hospitals maintained these illegal procedures.

Deniz Bayram, a lawyer, said Mor Cati women association's phone was inundated with incoming calls asking how they would have an abortion after PM's remarks last summer. "We even heard of doctors who refused to abort after those remarks," she said.

Filiz Ayla, a medical doctor, reminded how a significant number of women lost their lives in Turkey when the abortion was illegal. "Women will never let go of their abortion right. One way or another," she said.

The association listed their demands on abortions as follows:

* Free abortion operations with no formal procedures against contraception and abortion.

* Legal abortion limit to be raised to 12 weeks from 10. Penalties on hospitals that refuse abortions on the legal limit.

* Legal limit for abortions to be raised up to 24 weeks without prosecutor's consent in case of rape.

* Removal of spouse consent in married couples.

* Cancellation of practices that aim to create psychological pressure on women (e.g. obligation to listen to a fetus' heartbeats) to convince women to change their decision.

* Implementation of a law that pregnant woman and medical doctor decided which birth method to be used.

* Revision of GEBLİZ system that breached confidentiality of abortions.

* Distribution of contraceptives to men. (ÇT)