Derya Ceylan-Eylem Daş/JINHA

ISTANBUL – The international abortion rights project Women on Waves spoke with JINHA about their plans to work for safe abortion services in Turkey, where many women (including Syrian refugees) are unable to access abortion despite it being a legal right in the country.

Dr. Marlies Schellekens, a Women on Waves activist for the last six years, says that she has seen women in dire straits in her time with the group. The maritime clinic works bring abortion and reproductive health services to women in countries where abortion is illegal by providing it in international waters and through electronic medical consultation.

In some countries, like Morocco, Marlies found that despite the ban on abortion, rich women were able to access abortion, making the abortion ban a class division. In poorer countries like the Congo and Nepal, widespread poverty meant that women were either totally unable to access birth control methods or were performing abortions in unsafe conditions (a problem in Nepal, where many women have lasting health complications as a result).

The campaign has not always been able to operate freely.

"When we went to Portugal, they met us with warships," noted Marlies. "They called us a threat to national security." The group ended up bringing the case to the European Court of Human Rights, where they won.

As for Turkey, despite the fact that women have legally had access to abortion since 1983, there have been recent attempts by the ruling government to discourage abortion and reduce women's access to the service. Women on Waves activist Hazal Altay says the group works against misconceptions about abortion.

"We tend to think that if it's easier to access abortion, there will be a rise in abortion," said Hazal. "But actually, statistics show that when these kinds of health services are accessible, there's more awareness on the issue and the rate falls."

The group will be heading to refugee camps in Antep and Urfa to work with Syrian women because, as Hazal noted, the women lack access to birth control methods, reproductive health services and safe, hygienic abortions. With many Syrian women fleeing the country forcefully impregnated was a tactic of war, said Hazal, the group plans to bring health services to the camps where millions of Syrian refugees now live in Turkey.

(fk/cm)