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Although the right to elective abortion is legally guaranteed in Türkiye, women encounter numerous obstacles in practice. Turkish women already struggle to access this right, but the situation is even more dire for Syrian refugee women, who face compounded disadvantages.
Under the Law on Population Planning No. 2827, introduced in 1983, birth control is legal in Türkiye, and abortion is legal for up to ten weeks of pregnancy. This period can be extended in special cases where the woman’s life or that of the fetus is at risk. Yet across the country, both public and private hospitals routinely refuse to perform the procedure, citing various reasons.
Getting ready for an unwanted birth
“I’m 25, and I have witnessed the war in Syria. I still carry the scars of that war,” said Fatima E., a Syrian refugee who is pregnant. “I’m not ready to give birth to a child.”
Fatima still bears the psychological effects of war and does not wish to become a mother until after she completes the treatment she is taking. But her husband and his family interfere with her decisions, controlling much of her life. Though she didn’t want to, she got pregnant.
At first, she tried to hide her pregnancy, but she discovered that public hospitals would not perform abortions beyond ten weeks. Doctors told her the procedure was “forbidden.” Private hospitals said they could perform it—but only for a fee she could not afford. Fatima is now preparing for an unwanted birth.
Barriers across public and private hospitals
To understand the scope of this issue, we contacted public and private hospitals in Sanliurfa and Diyarbakir, two provinces in southeastern Türkiye. All hospitals in both provinces said they did not perform abortions.
Diyarbakir has 11 public hospitals capable of providing safe, free abortion services—one in the city center and ten in surrounding districts—along with nine private hospitals. Sanliurfa has 21 hospitals, 14 of which are public, and seven private. Yet both public and private institutions told us that “abortion is forbidden.”
Some hospitals that we contacted in Diyarbakir by phone suggested in-person visits. In both provinces, a few private hospitals perform abortions only if the pregnancy threatens the woman’s life and she has her husband’s consent, charging between 35,000 and 55,000 Turkish lira. They categorically refuse to perform abortions for extramarital pregnancies.
In private hospitals, the attitudes of hospital owners and administrators often determine whether doctors can perform abortions. These attitudes are heavily influenced by government politics, which further restrict women’s access to care.
Double disadvantage for Syrian refugee women
While abortion is already difficult for Turkish women to access, Syrian refugee women face even greater barriers due to lack of information, social stigma, and financial precarity.
As of May 2025, Türkiye hosts 1,335,312 Syrians—with 21,188 living in Diyarbakir and 238,475 in Sanliurfa. The stories of the women we interviewed in both cities reveal the traumas and life-threatening risks faced by those denied what should be a legal right.
While abortion is already difficult for Turkish women to access, Syrian refugee women face even greater barriers due to lack of information, social stigma, and financial precarity.
“The doctor tried to convince me to give birth”
Fatima Elhasu, 33, fled Raqqa 14 years ago and settled in Sanliurfa, where she married a relative. When she learned she’d gotten pregnant with her fifth child, she was eight weeks pregnant, still within the legal ten-week window for abortion.
“I wanted to end my pregnancy because we couldn’t afford another child,” she told us. “But neither public nor private hospitals agreed to perform the abortion. The doctor told me, ‘Allah will supply all your child’s needs,’ and said ending the pregnancy was a sin.”
Fatima gave birth in 2024 and now has five children. She and her husband do not want more children, but they cannot afford birth control pills, which she describes as “too expensive.”
“She needed her husband’s approval”
Makhouz, 40, also from Raqqa, lives in Sanliurfa as well. When she learned she was pregnant, she couldn’t tell her husband. She wanted an abortion because she was trapped in an unhappy marriage, but as she’d grown up in a deeply religious family, she knew that in Syria, abortion is viewed as “cold-blooded murder.”
“For me, any unwanted sexual relationship is rape,” she said. “I didn’t want a child, but when I went to the hospital, they told me I needed my husband’s approval. Since I couldn’t tell him I wanted an abortion, I had to give birth.”
Amira Husein, 35, came to Diyarbakir from Qamishli after losing her husband in the war. She later remarried and settled in Bismil district. When she realized she was pregnant, it was already too late for an abortion.
“Birth control pills are too expensive to buy, so I couldn’t use them regularly,” she said. “Men don’t want to use any protection, and as women, we can’t afford birth control pills due to financial problems.”
Gynecologist Dr. Sabire Aygün explains that abortion in Türkiye is socially divided into two categories: within and outside marriage.
“Women who want abortions outside marriage face social norms, fear of stigma, and lack of partner support,” she said. “Even within marriage, abortion isn’t available at every hospital. Doctors and administrators often refuse to perform it.”
According to Dr. Aygün, Syrian women, mostly unaware of their rights, are especially vulnerable, especially those in rural areas. “They don’t know how the healthcare system works and can’t access accurate information,” she explained. “Most can’t afford private hospitals, which means the rate of unwanted pregnancies among Syrian women is higher than among Turkish women.”
Unsafe abortion can be fatal
Dr. Aygün warns that many women who cannot access abortion services resort to “back-alley” clinics.
“Conditions in unlicensed clinics are extremely unsafe, which increases the risk of infection that might even lead to death,” she said, emphasizing that unmarried women face even greater difficulty in accessing safe abortions because public hospitals often refuse to perform abortions outside marriage. Though this is not legally enshrined, it occurs in practice. “Neither doctors nor administrators want to take responsibility, which pushes women toward unsafe procedures,” she lamented.
“Conditions in unlicensed clinics are extremely unsafe, which increases the risk of infection that might even lead to death.”
Resorting to dangerous medication
Helin Güneş, a pharmacist in Diyarbakir, says women often come to pharmacies seeking medication that induce menstruation.
“If the medication isn’t prescribed by a doctor, we ask why they need it,” she said. “When we talk to them, we realize they want to use it to end their pregnancies. These medications can only be prescribed by family physicians, yet some women mislead doctors to obtain them.”
“We warn them that these medications can cause severe bleeding, even death,” she continued. “We tell them to go to a doctor, but some still find ways to obtain the pills without prescriptions.”
Güneş also notes that the high price of birth control pills contributes to unwanted pregnancies. “Birth control pills are expensive, and women can’t afford them. That’s why unwanted pregnancies are common.”
NOTE: For security reasons, the names of Kurdish and Arab Syrian refugees have been changed. In both cities, data on how many women had abortions in private hospitals could not be obtained, as the hospitals refused to share this information.
This article was carried out with the support of the Tunis Office of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.
