Category: Genel

Tarihi kürtaj oylamasının ardından Eiffel Kulesi’ninin önünde kutlama yapıldı. 4 Mart 2024. Fotoğraf: France 24 kanalının video haberinden ekran görüntüsü.

27 kadının kürtaj olmasına yardım ettiği için 1943 yılında giyotinle idam edilen Marie-Louise Giraud’dan bugüne nasıl gelindi?

Fransa meclisi 4 Mart 2024’te gerçekleştirdiği tarihi bir oylama ile kürtaj hakkını Anayasal güvence altına aldı. Versailles Sarayı’ndaki oylamada 72’ye karşı 780 oyla kabul edilen değişiklikle Fransa kürtaj hakkını anayasal güvence altına alan ilk ülke oldu.

8 Mart’ta düzenlenen törenle Adalet Bakanı Dupond-Moretti, Anayasaya eklenen kürtaj hakkına ilişkin hükümlere Cumhuriyet mührünü vurdu. Artık Anayasa’nın 34’üncü maddesinde “Kadınlara garanti edilen, hamileliğin gönüllü olarak sonlandırılması özgürlüğünün hangi şartlarda kullanılacağını kanun belirler” ifadesi bulunuyor. Bu düzenlemeyle kürtaj tercih edilen bir özgürlükten, Anayasal güvence altına alınmış bir hakka evrildi. Bu nedenle yürürlükte olan ve yürürlüğe girecek hiçbir düzenleme kürtaj hakkına aykırı olamayacak.

Sert yasalara ve yüzyıllar süren toplumsal baskıya rağmen, kürtaj hakkı mücadelesi veren kadın hareketinin başarısı karşısında etkilenmemek, tüm dünyadaki kadınların benzer haklara sahip olmasını dilememek mümkün değil. Peki, 27 kadının kürtaj olmasına yardım ettiği için 1943 yılında giyotinle idam edilen Marie-Louise Giraud’dan bugüne nasıl gelindi?

Fransa’daki kürtaj yasağı katolik kilisesinin güçlü olduğu Ortaçağ’a kadar dayanıyor. Kürtaj ilk kez 1556 yılında bir fermanla yasaklanıyor. 1810 yılında, Napolyon Bonapart döneminde, kürtaj suç olarak tanımlanıyor ve bu suça karışanların ağır ceza mahkemelerinde yargılanmasına yönelik düzenlemeler yapılıyor. Birinci Dünya Savaşı sonrası pronatalist politikalar çerçevesinde kürtaja yönelik baskı iyice artmakla birlikte, doğum kontrol yöntemleri propagandası da yasaklanıyor. 1923 yılında kürtaj suçu için öngörülen idam cezası yerini hapis cezasına bırakıyor, ta ki İkinci Dünya Savaşı’na kadar. Savaş döneminde pronatalist politikalara sahip Vichy Hükümeti “ iş, aile, vatan” sloganını benimsiyor, kutsal aile anlayışıyla doğumu teşvik ediyor. 1942 yılında devletin güvenliğine yönelik suç olarak tanımlanan kürtaja karışanların özel mahkemelerde yargılanıp ölüm cezasına çarptırılması öngörülüyor. Özetle kadınların bedenleri üzerindeki tasarrufları, vatan söz konusu olunca yine teferruat oluyor.

Marie-Louise Giraud: Kürtaj nedeniyle idam edilen ilk kişi

Ancak kadınlar devletin bu dayatmasına boyun eğmeden gizlice kürtaj olmaya devam ediyor. Sabunlu suyu vajinaya enjekte etme, maydanoz suyu içme, hardal banyosu ve daha niceleri… Kadınlar sağlıkları pahasına çeşitli yöntemler denemeye devam ediyor.

Bu kadınlardan biri de 18 yaşındaki Gisèle.

Marie-Louise Giraud, 18 yaşındaki komşusu Gisèle’nin hamileliğini sonlandırmak için hardal banyosu yaptığına şahit olduğunda ona yardım etmeye karar veriyor. Daha sonra 1940-42 yılları arasında 27 kadına kürtaj için yardım ediyor. 1942 yılında, kocası tarafından yazıldığı tahmin edilen, isimsiz bir mektupla ihbar edilen Giraud, kürtaj nedeniyle ölüm cezasına çarptırılıyor. Karar temyiz ediliyor ancak onu cezalandırmakta kararlı olan Vichy Hükümeti temyiz talebini reddediyor. Giraud, Temmuz 1943’te Paris’teki Roquette hapishanesinin avlusunda giyotinle idam ediliyor. Aynı davada yargılanan Eulalie Hélène, Jeanne Truffet et Augustine Connefroy ise sırasıyla 5, 8 ve 10 yıl hapis cezası alıyor.

Marie-Louise Giraud’un kadınların istenmeyen hamileliklerini sonlandırmasına yardım etmedeki motivasyonu belki de feminist bilinç taşımıyordu ancak Vichy Hükümetinin amacı kadınların bedenleri üzerinde patriyarkanın hüküm sürmesini sağlamaktı.

Bu makale 9 Mart 2024 tarihinde P24’te yayınlanmıştır. Okumak için buraya tıklayın.

A woman wearing a headscarf looks at the Süleymaniye Mosque from the Golden Horn Metro Bridge in Istanbul. Credit: Pexels

Recent statements by Turkey’s state-backed Islamic authority, the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), have inflamed long-running debates about women’s rights and the role of religion in public life.

The Diyanet’s Friday sermons, delivered simultaneously in nearly 90,000 mosques each week, function as a religious guide for millions in Turkey. Yet recent sermons have carried messages that appear to align with the government’s stance on a range of social issues, from women’s clothing and personal freedom, to inheritance rights and LGBT+ identities.

Significantly, the increasingly strict tone has drawn criticism from some prominent religious commentators, as well as secularists. In recent months, the feminist author Berrin Sönmez and the theologian Emine Yücel – both of whom previously wore the hijab – have said they will remove their headscarves in protest at the Diyanet’s rhetoric.

Recent statements by Turkey’s state-backed Islamic authority, the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), have inflamed long-running debates about women’s rights and the role of religion in public life.

The Diyanet’s Friday sermons, delivered simultaneously in nearly 90,000 mosques each week, function as a religious guide for millions in Turkey. Yet recent sermons have carried messages that appear to align with the government’s stance on a range of social issues, from women’s clothing and personal freedom, to inheritance rights and LGBT+ identities.

Significantly, the increasingly strict tone has drawn criticism from some prominent religious commentators, as well as secularists. In recent months, the feminist author Berrin Sönmez and the theologian Emine Yücel – both of whom previously wore the hijab – have said they will remove their headscarves in protest at the Diyanet’s rhetoric.

This article was published on December 10, 2025, in Inside Turkey. Click here to read it.

By Seda Karatabanoglu & Zeynep Yüncüler

Unethical practices and differing legal regulations in the global surrogacy market—especially along the Turkey-Georgia-Northern Cyprus route—underscore the need for international oversight.

The global surrogacy industry is experiencing an unprecedented boom, raising ethical concerns across borders. As more couples turn to surrogacy as a path to parenthood, this assisted reproductive technology has evolved into a multi-billion dollar market.

According to recent research, the global surrogacy industry is projected to grow from $21.85 billion in 2024, to $196 billion by 2034. This explosive growth is primarily concentrated in Europe and North America, where surrogacy is legal and regulated. 

However, the legal landscape of surrogacy remains a complex patchwork across nations, with some countries embracing it while others maintain strict prohibitions. This inconsistency in regulations has created gray areas.

Scientific research highlights the possibility of abuse arising from gaps in legal frameworks and disputes, whether surrogacy is legal or not. It points to unethical practices such as trafficking of women, coercion of both surrogates and prospective parents by agencies, lack of respect for bodily autonomy or informed consent, ‘sham’ procedures and multiple embryo exchanges.

Cross-Border Exploitation: A Dark Web of Surrogacy

Surrogacy-related abuse often happens in a region formed by three countries: Turkey, Georgia and Northern Cyprus.

While surrogacy remains illegal in Turkey, it’s perfectly legal in its northeastern neighbor Georgia and southern neighbor Northern Cyprus, creating a dangerous legal vacuum that enables exploitation.

The Hope for the Future Association, based in Tbilisi, Georgia, is one of the organizations reporting cases of abuse and illegal surrogacy in the country. 

“Our organization has evidence of both Georgian and Turkish citizens being used as surrogate mothers, along with cases of children being transported across borders with falsified documents,” said Tamar Khachapuridze, the association’s director. “We’ve reported these to the prosecutor’s office. Despite a decade-long investigation by Georgian prosecutors, these cases remain collecting dust. It appears someone is working to keep these dark dealings under wraps.” 

Khachapuridze cited a particularly alarming case involving a Turkish surrogate mother. After undergoing embryo transfer in Georgia, she was reportedly transported to Thailand three months before giving birth, where she delivered a baby intended for a single Chinese man.

This case directly violates Georgian law, which explicitly prohibits embryo transfer or any surrogacy procedures for women from foreign countries.

When we obtained the case number from Khachapuridze’s files and approached the Georgian Prosecutor’s Office with written questions about the existence and content of the investigation, our written inquiries and follow-up calls went unanswered.

Rusudan Nanava, a Tbilisi-based lawyer handling surrogacy cases, explained the wall of silence: “I doubt you’ll get any information from the prosecutor’s office. Criminal cases, especially those involving surrogacy, are treated with the highest level of confidentiality.”

This article was published on February 8, 2025, in Ms. Magazine. Click here to read it.

(Isaac Taylor, Pexels)

A government campaign to encourage women to give birth via vaginal delivery has drawn criticism on the grounds that it stigmatises mothers who choose caesareans. 

In October 2024, Turkey’s Ministry of Health launched a “Normal Birth Action Plan” to encourage women to give birth via vaginal delivery. The campaign, announced in a public service ad titled “Mum, we did it”, prompted a backlash on social media. The Turkish Psychiatric Association also criticised the public service ad for being unscientific and portraying vaginal births as a “success”, making women who have caesareans feel guilty and inadequate.

Turkey leads the world in caesarean birth rates. According to the Ministry of Health, 60.1% of live births in 2022 were performed via caesarean section. Data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recorded Turkey’s caesarean rate in 2021 as 584.2 per 1,000 births. International health authorities recommend caesarean deliveries only when the health of the mother or baby is at risk.

Launched in October 2024, the action plan was announced with the participation of Emine Erdoğan, the wife of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. It includes measures such as establishing prenatal schools, expanding mother-friendly hospital standards, increasing the authority of midwives, assigning a midwife to every pregnant woman, and monitoring caesarean deliveries.

But the announcement – and the ensuing debate – has shone a light on deeper problems in Turkey’s health system. Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology Dr. Murat Ekmez argues that the high caesarean rates cannot be explained solely by women’s choices.

This article was published on January 31, 2025, in Inside Turkey. Click here to read it.