Browsing by Author "Altuntas, Deniz"

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Citation Count: 3
The Availability of Emergency Contraception From Family Health Centers in Turkey
(Elsevier Ireland Ltd, 2022) O'Neil, Mary Lou; Aldanmaz, Bahar; Altuntas, Deniz
Reproductive health care, including contraception, is a fundamental aspect of any public health care system and it is important to reduce barriers to access to all forms of contraception, including emergency contraception. In recent years, the rhetoric of pronatalism in Turkey has come to dominate and raises questions about the availability of reproductive health care services, in particular contraception, from state run facilities. This study aimed to determine the availability of dedicated emergency contraception (EC) from government run Family Health Centers (FHCs) in Turkey. In 2019, a team of trained researchers called a random sample of 583 FHCs located in the largest cities in twelve regions across Turkey asking for dedicated EC. Dedicated EC is largely unavailable from government supported FHCs. Only 6.1% stated that they provided EC while 53.8% stated that it was not available and that they could provide no alternative. A further 28.3% declared that they could provide an alternative to dedicated EC that almost always consisted of oral contraceptives. We found statistically significant variations in response rate and availability among cities as well as the rate of referral to pharmacies. There is little access to EC from government sponsored health clinics designated to provide family planning services, which hinders access to an essential reproductive health care service that should be available to women everywhere.
Citation Count: 0
Population Politics, Reproductive Governance and Access To Abortion in Turkey
(Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2024) O'Neil, Mary Lou; Ramaswamy, Amrutha; Altuntas, Deniz
Turkey currently pursues an aggressive pronatalist population politics which has created wide-reaching reproductive governance regulating reproductive health care and family planning choices. One aspect of this orientation centres on restricting access to abortion services despite the fact that abortion is legal through ten weeks of pregnancy. This article uses nationwide data collected from mystery patient surveys administered to all public (in 2016 and 2020), and all private (2021) hospitals in the country to determine the availability of abortion services in Turkey. Less than half of all hospitals responding provided abortions to the full extent provided by law. Abortion without restriction as to reason was largely unavailable at public hospitals and the cost of care at private hospitals remained prohibitive for many. Among those hospitals we reached, in four provinces, there was no public or private hospital providing any type of abortion care. The most frequent explanation for the lack of abortion services was that abortion is illegal. This was particularly the case for public hospitals. Despite a 10-week cutoff for abortions, 39% of private hospitals responding to the survey invoked even earlier time limits creating further restrictions. The extreme pronatal orientation of the reproductive governance currently in place has created a state of reproductive injustice that makes enhanced access to abortion of vital importance.