An Assessment of Women's Abortion Experiences in Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract

Abortion upon request has been legal in Turkey since 1983. In 2012 the Prime Minister of Turkey announced his intent to restrict or ban abortion. The public protested in response and the Turkish government did not amend the abortion law. However, recent anecdotal evidence suggests that the provision of abortion in public hospitals has diminished significantly. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore women’s experiences obtaining abortion care in Istanbul, Turkey. We also documented key informants’ perspectives about abortion and reproductive health service availability in Istanbul. According to women and key informants, abortion availability has decreased remarkably and is now only available in one public hospital in Istanbul. Abortion care remains available in the private sector but there are nonetheless barriers to obtaining timely abortion care in Turkey. To improve abortion services, future efforts should focus on re-integrating abortion services in the public sector and making medication abortion available to Turkish women.