Overview

• Turkey's government has officially implemented a ban on non-medically necessary cesarean sections in private clinics, aiming to reverse the nation's declining birth rate.
• President Erdoğan has labeled the declining fertility rate, now at 1.5 births per woman, as a threat to national survival and launched a 'Year of the Family' initiative to promote natural births.
• The ban is accompanied by a state-sponsored campaign featuring football players advocating for natural births, drawing criticism for perceived gender insensitivity.
• Opposition leaders and women's rights advocates argue the measure infringes on women's bodily autonomy and serves as a distraction from ongoing protests over the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.
• Medical experts acknowledge potential benefits of reducing cesarean rates but caution that the policy overlooks economic challenges, which are key drivers of Turkey's fertility decline.