Turkiye: Controversial birth campaign targeting women draws backlash amid healthcare and bodily autonomy concerns
Monday, April 21, 2025 3:30 PM
A football team’s display of a banner promoting “normal birth” (vaginal-birth) has sparked criticism from women’s rights advocates and health professionals in Turkey, who argue that the Ministry of Health’s campaign to reduce cesarean births is medically reductive and poorly communicated. The critics say that the term “normal birth” stigmatizes cesarean deliveries and enforces harmful binaries, especially as Turkey faces a growing healthcare crisis with rising infant mortality, underfunded public hospitals, and systematic neglect of women’s health and autonomy.