Dini Araştırmalar (Religious Studies)

Abstract

Pregnancy and birth
cause various health problems for women and maternal deaths, as a result this;
it strongly influences women’s participation and involvement in social
life.  Each year, 287 thousand women die
due to pregnancy, birth and after-birth complications and many more women continue
their lives with serious health problems and disabilities. Conversely, women’s fertility
levels be it high or low, is an important factor which affects the size and
quality of the population. The size, increase, decrease and the structure of
population has always been subject to various political or economical debates; according
to some opinions it has even been argued as a main source of social problems.
Consequently, various types of interventions to increase or decrease the
fertility rates of women occurred based on political, economical or cultural influence.
Turkey implemented pronatalistic policies in order to increase fertility rates in
the first decades of the Republican period; then, antinatalistic policies so as
to decrease fertility rates between the 60’s and 90’s. Currently, in the last
15 years, pronatalistic arguments are in effect once again. Reproductive rights
perspective, which can be defined as the rights of women and couples with
regard to the joint decisions of men and women to decide freely on their
fertility and related issues. It presents a framework which is sensitive to
different choices and lifestyles, disregarding the state policies both aiming
to increase or decrease the fertility rates. The role of state, in this
framework, is to create the supportive conditions and proper health services
for realisation of these various options.