A comparative analysis of abortion policies in Turkey and USA

This thesis is a comparative analysis on abortion policies and feminist movements in Turkey and USA. Basic approaches on abortion in feminist theory, the history of bans, legalizations and regulations in Turkey and USA, and which approaches the feminist movements has taken position against these regulations are comparatively analyzed in the thesis. For many decades USA and Turkey showed a contrasting picture on abortion: while in US, abortion was one of the most important topics, in Turkey abortion was legalized as a consequence of anti-natalist policies and it didn't create a conflict. Following a change in Turkish population trends, the government started to implement pro-natalist policies and took an anti-abortion stance. From there on the two states started to show much more similarity. The anti-abortion discourse and regulations created in USA, that aim to restrain abortion rights without making it outright illegal, sets an example for anti-abortion policies in Turkey. The abortion conflict is mostly dominated by the rights discourse, but some feminists find rights discourse masculine. For that reason some chooses to reject rights discourse altogether or to create a feminist rights discourse like reproductive rights. While US mainstream feminism insists on using the personal right to choose discourse despite the negative outcomes, feminists of Color criticises that approach and they argue for reproductive rights. On the other hand in Turkey, although a personal right to choose discourse came out forward with the first reactions against a possible abortion ban, feminist organisations were critical about personal choice discourse. Turkish feminism which has just started discussing abortion has focused on reproductive rights and rejection of rights discourse. Keywords: Abortion, feminism, population policies, USA, Turkey