Abortion has been banned in 102 of 295 public hospitals in Turkey. Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) MP Züleyha Gülüm has submitted a proposal in Turkish parliament demanding a research commission to be formed to search the reasons for “de-facto abortion ban”.

News Center- Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) İstanbul MP Züleyha Gülüm has submitted a research proposal to the Turkish Parliamentary Speaker's Office about the “de facto abortion ban” in Turkey.

“The right to safe, free and accessible abortion is blocked by public authorities, who refuse to provide abortion,” says Züleyha Gülüm and she demands a research commission to be formed in the parliament in order to search the reasons for de facto abortion ban by determining the public hospitals that do not provide abortion services and to take necessary measures for providing optional abortion services.

No optional abortion services in 56 provinces

In Turkey, abortion has been banned in 102 of 295 public hospitals even if it is legal, says the report entitled, “Legal but Not Accessible: Abortion Services in Public Hospitals in Turkey” prepared by the Gender and Women's Studies Center at Kadir Has University. In the proposal, Zülayha Gülüm says, “In the report, only 10 out of 295 public hospitals has provided abortion services without showing any conditions, the rate of hospitals that do not perform ‘optional abortion’ has increased by 54 percent from 12 percent in the last four years. The report states that the optional abortion services are not provided in 56 provinces, including Istanbul. These data show how the government's anti-abortion policies and discourses have turned into a de facto ban.”