Abstract
Introduction
In 1983, abortion without restriction as to reason was legalized in Turkey. However,
at an international conference in 2012, the Prime Minister condemned abortion and
announced his intent to draft restrictive abortion legislation. As a result of public
outcry and protests, the law was not enacted, but media reports suggest that barriers
to abortion access have since worsened.
Objectives
We aimed to conduct a qualitative study exploring women's recent abortion experiences
in Istanbul, Turkey.
Study design
In 2015, we conducted 14 semi-structured in-depth interviews with women aged 18 or
older who had obtained abortion care in Istanbul on/after January 1, 2009. We employed
a multimodal recruitment strategy and analyzed these interviews for content and themes
using deductive and inductive techniques.
Results
Women reported on a total of 19 abortions. Although abortion care is available in
private facilities, only one public hospital provides abortion services without restriction
as to reason. Women who had multiple abortions in different facility types described
quality of care more positively in the private sector. Unmarried women considered
their marital status when making the decision to seek an abortion and reported challenges
obtaining comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services. All participants
were familiar with the Turkish government's antiabortion discourse and believed that
this was reflective of an overarching desire to restrict women's rights.
Conclusion
Public abortion services in Istanbul are currently limited, and private abortion services
are accessible but relatively expensive to obtain. Recent antiabortion political rhetoric
appears to have negatively impacted access and service quality.
Implications
This is the first qualitative study exploring women's experiences obtaining abortion
services in Turkey since the proposed abortion restriction in 2012. Further research
exploring the experiences of unmarried women and abortion accessibility in other regions
of the country is warranted.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 29, 2016
Accepted:
July 25,
2016
Received in revised form:
July 22,
2016
Received:
May 19,
2016
Footnotes
☆Conflicts of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
