Abortion Law

The Legal Status of Abortion

The first country to legally permit abortion was Russia. In 1920, having an abortion for any reason — that is, electively — ceased to be a criminal offense in Russia. Following this law, seven hundred thousand abortion procedures were recorded in Russia in 1934 alone. This figure does not include unofficial procedures.

In Turkey, the laws governing population planning and pregnancy termination — abortion (curettage) law — have changed over time in line with the sociological, economic, and political conditions of each period.

In the early years of the Republic of Turkey, population growth was encouraged to offset losses from war, and population-planning laws were only gradually introduced later.

During the prohibition period (1923–1965) — from the founding of the Republic until the Population Planning Law and its regulations came into force in 1965 — terminating a pregnancy, for any reason or by any means, was strictly forbidden.

This prohibition was codified in the 1926 Turkish Penal Code and the 1930 General Sanitation Law.

Due to heavy losses during World War I and the Turkish War of Independence, the country's defense needs, the shortage of labor for agricultural economy, and high rates of infant and child mortality, the prevailing view in the early years of the Republic was that fertility and population growth needed to be encouraged.

As a result of the pro-natalist policies followed from 1965 to 1983, population growth reached its highest levels between 1955 and 1960.

As the rising birth rate began to create social and economic challenges, publications by public health and obstetrics/gynecology experts on pregnancy termination intensified, and the Population Planning Law was enacted in 1965.

With the Population Planning Law that took effect in 1983, and the accompanying regulations on the Conduct and Supervision of Uterine Evacuation and Sterilization Services and on Population Planning Services, abortion procedures ceased to be a criminal offense under certain conditions.

An elective uterine evacuation (abortion) may be performed up to the completion of the tenth week of pregnancy — about 2.5 months — provided there is no medical contraindication for the woman's health.

It is Article 5 of the Population Planning Law that establishes the legal basis for elective pregnancy termination (abortion) in the Republic of Turkey.

The requirement of spousal consent for a married woman seeking an abortion is, in fact, not established by any actual law.

It was only introduced through an amendment to the healthcare institutions regulation, and has since become a practice that places some women in a difficult position in certain circumstances.