Turkey’s health ministry has banned planned caesarean (C-section) deliveries at private health clinics, according to a regulation published on April 19 in the Official Gazette.

“Planned caesarean deliveries cannot be executed at private health clinics,” reads text in paragraph eight, article six in the 40-article regulation.

After the development was publicised by the media, "Are caesareans banned?" searches on Google boomed in Turkey.

Broader effort

The move is an aspect of the Turkish government’s ongoing efforts to promote vaginal births, local news portal bianet reported on April 21.

The ban is part of a broader effort to exert control over women’s bodies, according to Aylin Nazliaka, a main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) MP.

"Political violence"

“Those who put their political interests above all else are subjecting women to political violence,” Nazliaka told local daily Cumhuriyet.

“This mentality, which tags caesareans as ‘unnecessary’ and imposes vaginal birth, sees women as nothing more than birth machines,” Nazliaka added.

“My body, my choice”

In terms of having children, women alone should decide when, how, where and how many, according to the MP.

Poorer women hit harder

The ban will hit women in rural areas harder as they have access to only private clinics, the MP has also said.

Not about ensuring health

“This is not about ensuring healthy births. It’s about starting to restrict cesarean deliveries,” Ayse Gultekingil, a member of the women’s health committee at Turkish Medical Association (TTB), has told another local news portal T24.

Wider ban?

Women will now turn to private hospitals in attempts at dancing around the ban, while it is not yet known whether the ban will eventually be extended to these hospitals, according to Gultekingil.

Men’s interest

As part of the government’s vaginal birth campaign, Sivasspor football team on April 13 carried a banner that suggested: “Vaginal birth is the natural way”.

Photo: Group of guys teach women that "vaginal birth is the natural way".

Men’s interest in women’s decisions is not limited to Turkey. The World Health Organization (WHO) advises that 15% of total deliveries at most should be by caesarean.

The world rate rose from 7% in 1990 to 21% in 2021. In Turkey, it climbed from the 20%s in the early 2000s to 61% in 2023.