3,000 women (20-60 years old) gathered in Istanbul's Kadikoy district. Carrying signs and shouting slogans that are also familiar such as "my body, my choice" and the general anti-government slogans.
Many of the women were accompanied by partners, at least one waving a sign reading "My darling's body, my darling's choice." This maybe my favorite slogan ever...for real.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called abortion murder, and reportedly his government is working on legislation to ban abortions after 4 weeks from conception, with an exception of emergencies. Now remember back when we talked about how you can't pin point the date of conception? It can be assumed/calculated from the first day of a woman's last period. So try to wrap your mind around not even missing a period and being denied an abortion.
Currently, abortion is legal in Turkey till 10 weeks, which is still kind of crazy. Health Minister Recep Akdag even claims the government will look out for the children, which are products of rape. Upon criticism, he said he didn't mean rape victims couldn't obtain an abortion. These ladies are so lucky, carry your rapist's baby to term and then the government will take care of it...of course I don't know what that looks like.
Some are even arguing the ban on abortion is actually just good old fashion racism. Deniz Ulke Aribogan, a professor of international relations at Istanbul's Bilgi University claimed on Friday that the government is seeking an abortion ban to balance the Kurd's high birth rate, since "ethnic reproduction is used by some organizations as a political took." So Aribogan is claiming the decision is not a moral/religious one, but instead a political one.
There have already been warnings that an abortion ban would result in women terminating their pregnancies on their own, which could be fatal or disabling.
There have already been warnings that an abortion ban would result in women terminating their pregnancies on their own, which could be fatal or disabling.
