Abortion services at hospitals in Istanbul

Abstract

Objective: Despite the existence of a liberal law on abortion in Turkey, there is growing evidence that actually securing an abortion in Istanbul may prove difficult. This study aimed to determine whether or not state hospitals and private hospitals that accept state health insurance in Istanbul are providing abortion services and for what indications.

Method: Between October and December 2015, a mystery patient telephone survey of 154 hospitals, 43 public and 111 private, in Istanbul was conducted.

Results: 14% of the state hospitals in Istanbul perform abortions without restriction as to reason provided in the current law while 60% provide the service if there is a medical necessity. A quarter of state hospitals in Istanbul do not provide abortion services at all. 48.6% of private hospitals that accept the state health insurance also provide for abortion without restriction while 10% do not provide abortion services under any circumstances.

Key conclusions: State and private hospitals in Istanbul are not providing abortion services to the full extent allowed under the law. The low numbers of state hospitals offering abortions without restriction indicates a de facto privatization of the service. This same trend is also visible in many private hospitals partnering with the state that do not provide abortion care. While many women may choose a private provider, the lack of provision of abortion care at state hospitals and those private hospitals working with the state leaves women little option but to purchase these services from private providers at some times subtantial costs.

Chinese abstract

目的：尽管土耳其有一项有关流产法律, 但越来越多的证据表明, 实际上在伊斯坦布尔进行流产可能很困难。本研究的目的是了解在伊斯坦布尔有国家健康保险的公立医院和私立医院是否提供流产服务。

方法：2015年10月至12月, 对伊斯坦布尔154家医院, 43家公立和111家私人医院进行了一次匿名病人电话调查。

结果：伊斯坦布尔14%的公立医院在当前法律下可以进行流产而无限制, 60%的医院如果有医疗必要可以进行流产。伊斯坦布尔四分之一的公立医院根本不提供流产服务。48.6%的私立医院,接受国家健康保险并提供流产服务没有限制,而10%在任何情况下不提供流产服务。

主要结论：公立和私立医院不是完全按照法律允许的程度提供流产服务。公立医院无限制提供流产服务的低数字表明实际服务的个体化。这一趋势在许多私立医院不提供流产服务中也可以看到。虽然很多女性可能会选择私立医院,但是公立医院缺乏流产服务和私人医院的工作状态使得女性选择余地很小, 只能花费更多成本去私立医院寻求服务。

Keywords:

• Abortion services
• availability
• Istanbul
• state hospitals
• private hospitals

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge the invaluable contributions of Bahar Aldanmaz and all those in the Kadir Has University Gender and Women’s Studies Research Center.

Disclosure statement

The author reports no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Kadir Has University Scientific Research Fund [2016-BAP-01].