Turkey has banned elective Caesarean-section births at private healthcare facilities under new regulations from the health ministry published in the government’s Official Gazette on Saturday.
The move, which has attracted strong criticism from opposition politicians and rights groups, follows a heated national debate over childbirth practices. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has long promoted what he calls “natural births” and criticized high rates of Caesarean deliveries.
“Planned Caesarean sections cannot be performed at a medical center,” the April 19 entry in the Official Gazette said. The new rules, which apply to private healthcare institutions, were a top story in the Turkish media on Sunday.
Turkey has the highest rate of C-section births among the 38 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, according to the most recent available data from 2021. Figures from the World Population Review show 584 C-sections per 1,000 live births in Turkey that year.
The issue gained further attention last weekend when players from Sivasspor walked onto the field ahead of a Süper Lig match against Fenerbahçe carrying a health ministry banner promoting vaginal births. The banner read, “Doğal doğum doğaldır,” meaning “Natural birth is natural.”
The campaign sparked outrage among opposition lawmakers, healthcare professionals and women’s rights advocates.
“As if the country had no other problems, male football players are telling women how to give birth,” wrote Gökçe Gökçen, deputy chair of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), on X.
“Don’t interfere in women’s affairs with your ignorance. Keep your hands off women’s bodies,” she said, echoing sentiments shared by other critics.
In January Erdoğan declared 2025 the “Year of the Family,” citing Turkey’s declining fertility rate, which hit a record low of 1.51 in 2023. He has frequently urged women to have at least three children.
On Saturday Erdoğan defended the football club’s participation in the Health Ministry’s campaign.
“One of our football clubs took to the field with a banner to support an awareness campaign by the health ministry,” he said. “There was no insult, no criticism, no disrespect to anyone on the banner, nothing to offend women. Why does it bother you that our ministry encourages normal birth?
“We have no time for such nonsense at a time when our fertility rate and population growth rate are causing alarm,” Erdoğan added. “Turkey’s declining population is a threat much more significant than war.”