Infant mortality: a Turkish puzzle?

In this paper I examine the problem of high infant and child mortality in Turkey. In view of my research results, I argue for a re-evaluation of the theoretical paradigm that views childhood issues primarily in relation to mothers rather than within the dynamics of a broader cultural context. The present emphasis on mothers as a primary key to the problem reflects an extensive and implicit conceptualization of ‘motherhood’ that has penetrated scientific discourse and methodology. The research results presented here show that in our Istanbul sample most of the factors related to high child mortality are household and cultural conditions encircling the mother, and that only a few of the factors are direct attributes of the mother herself. These results have significant implications for research and policy on child health

Forum: Parental education and child mortality

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Infant mortality: a Turkish puzzle?

In this paper I examine the problem of high infant and child mortality in Turkey. In view of my research results, I argue for a re-evaluation of the theoretical paradigm that views childhood issues primarily in relation to mothers rather than within the dynamics of a broader cultural context. The present emphasis on mothers as a primary key to the problem reflects an extensive and implicit conceptualization of ‘motherhood’ that has penetrated scientific discourse and methodology. The research results presented here show that in our Istanbul sample most of the factors related to high child mortality are household and cultural conditions encircling the mother, and that only a few of the factors are direct attributes of the mother herself. These results have significant implications for research and policy on child health

Abortion in Turkey: A matter of state, family or individual decision

This paper gives a historical, international and cultural outlook on the debate related to the 1982 legalization of abortion in the modern democratic republic of Turkey. A belief that the country is under-populated and subsequent pro-natalist concerns of the turn of the century seem to have strongly influenced the legal prohibition of abortion. The paper first discusses the widespread social practice and the permissive attitudes towards abortion in the late Ottoman Empire and in contemporary Turkey. The contrast between the above social situation and until recently the strict, non-permissive religious and secular attitudes are presented with a discussion of the effects of the westernization and secularization processes in the late Ottoman Empire. Moral concerns and judgements regarding abortion seem to have penetrated Ottoman society as part of the above processes beginning in the nineteenth century. The present day official religious interpretations seem to conform with the more conservative Islamic schools of thought rather than the more liberal Islamic interpretations. Furthermore, the 1982 laws which legalize abortion until the eighth week of pregnancy consider family planning to be a family issue and bring the restriction of making married women have their husband's permission before preceding with abortion. As such, the present legal platform opens to question the rationales and population control motives behind the law and the importance of who it is that can make the decision to proceed with abortion. Thus, in the last 70 years a historical and ideological progression can be discerned in the line of assuming first the state and then the family to have decision making legitimacy as regards reproductive choices. Today, the platform of radical discussion has shifted to evaluating the importance of individual women in making this reproductive choice. In this context, in conclusion, the paper discusses the rationale and the logic behind and the implications for gender power structures of the existing legal situation in Turkey.abortion legalization Turkey Islamic and secular attitudes decision maker(s)