Women’s rights advocates have been raising their voices in protest of poorly coordinated Turkish government policies that they argue are undermining women’s health and well-being.
Ahead of a Turkish Super League football match on Sunday, one team took to the field carrying a banner that read, “Normal birth is the natural way,” a move that drew criticism from women’s rights advocates and health professionals, who argued that such sensitive issues related to women’s health should be addressed with greater care and nuance.
Vaginal birth is widely referred to as “normal birth” in Turkey.
It’s a longstanding tradition in Turkish football for teams to take the field carrying banners that serve as public service announcements.
State institutions and non-profit NGOs first get in touch with football clubs to make announcements through these banners. If the clubs do not already have a banner planned for the match, they consider these requests.
After evaluation, especially in the case of state institutions, this often ends in approval: The clubs notify the Turkish Football Federation about carrying the banner. Once approved, players enter the field with the banner.
The banner at Sunday’s match was part of an action plan developed by the Ministry of Health that aims to lower the rate of cesarean sections in the country. According to the ministry, 61 percent of births in Turkey are by cesarean section, while the World Health Organization (WHO) advises it should be around 15 percent.
The action plan aims to prevent cesarean sections performed without medical necessity and promote vaginal births, thereby protecting the health of mothers and babies.
Women’s rights activists argued that a football field is not the appropriate venue for addressing women’s health policies, which they said should be guided by medical professionals.
Medical doctor Sine Akten said in a social media post that by refusing to call it “vaginal birth” and by calling it “normal birth,” the government is stigmatizing women who give birth via cesarean section as if they’re choosing something “unnatural.”
“Medicine prioritizes necessity, benefit and safety over naturalness,” she said. “The normal birth rhetoric forces women’s birth experiences into binary categories: right vs. wrong, natural vs. artificial. Vaginal birth is framed as virtuous, while cesarean is seen as unavoidable but second-rate.”
She said using the word “normal” was highly problematic and that ethical health communication should be neutral, informative and respectful of individual choice.
As a result, international medical guidelines are becoming more careful with terminology. For example, both WHO and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) prefer terms like “vaginal birth” and “cesarean birth,” which avoid creating hierarchies and instead focus on providing clear, unbiased information.
The way this language is used in health policy also has practical consequences: When physicians are pressured to increase vaginal birth rates, even high-risk cases may avoid cesarean delivery, putting both maternal and infant health at risk.
Journalist Ece Üner said the ministry should focus more on keeping children healthy and happy instead of on how they are born. “All births are normal, yet somehow men are the ones making decisions, even about how women give birth. That’s what’s truly abnormal,” she added.
Actress Özge Özpirinçci drew attention to scandals within the healthcare system and the recent arrest of university students, saying the government should prioritize keeping children alive, healthy and free.
“They have failed to clearly communicate the action plan to the public with scientific grounding and detailed explanation,” Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Semra Dinçer said in criticism of the ministry.
As the Ministry of Health focuses on reducing cesarean sections, Turkey’s infant mortality rate has surged to three times the European Union average. The government has been blamed due to negligence, healthcare privatization and a lack of oversight of the worsening crisis.
The sharp rise in infant deaths comes amid a broader healthcare crisis, as public hospitals face budget cuts, overcrowding and staffing shortages, while private hospitals expand with minimal regulation. Critics argue that the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) Health Transformation Program, launched in 2003, has prioritized private hospitals at the expense of public healthcare, forcing more citizens to pay out of pocket for essential medical services.
The main opposition CHP has accused the government of failing to allocate sufficient resources to public healthcare, leading to preventable infant deaths.
