The Turkish government drew sharp criticism last Sunday after enlisting footballers to broadcast its anti-caesarean “propaganda” to a mostly male audience, reports Türkiye Today.
Football players in the high-profile match between Sivasspor and Fenerbahce held up long banners reading “Natural birth is normal birth,” sparking widespread indignation from Turkish women. Football is the country’s most popular sport but the overwhelming majority of fans watching the Turkish Super League match were men – not what most people would consider the target audience for a message on birthing.
Amid the outcry from prominent women, opposition politicians and organisations on social media, the Women’s Platform for Equality (ESIK), an umbrella organisation of over 340 women’s and LGBTQ organisations, panned the display as “sexist and intrusive.” The organisation said: “How women give birth, what they consider ‘natural,’ or what they choose to do with their bodies is only for women to decide.”
The football match controversy is only the latest for the campaign, launched last October by First Lady Emine Erdogan to counter a growing trend in the country toward caesarean deliveries. Many have spoken out on social media, saying the messaging pressures women into certain medical decisions, stigmatises assisted birth and curtails reproductive freedoms.
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The intense backlash, to the initial campaign as well as the recent football banners, reflects a wider distrust of the social policies of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. As prime minister, Erdogan condemned caesarean sections as a “step taken to prevent this country’s population from growing further” – part of the ongoing agenda of his Justice and Development Party, which emphasises large families and discourages use of birth control or family planning, two cornerstones of reproductive freedom.
In spite of a 2012 law that saw fines imposed on doctors who frequently performed the procedure, Turkey has the highest rate of caesarean deliveries in the world, with the Ministry of Health reporting that 60.1 percent of live births in 2022 were performed via caesarean section. Rates around the world are steadily climbing, topping 1 in 5 (21 percent) child births globally and expected to increase in the coming years.
At the same time, concerns are also growing as the procedure, a life-saving intervention for many who cannot complete a vaginal delivery safely, does carry short- and long-term health risks. According to the WHO, risks around caesarean sections include the potential for heavy bleeding or infection, slower recovery times after childbirth, delays in initiating breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact, and increased likelihood of complications in future pregnancies.
The global health organisation supports broad access to the procedure but encourages countries to reduce the rate of unnecessary caesareans, primarily through educational interventions for mothers and healthcare providers, as well as support programmes and equalising of fees so cost is not a barrier to the best delivery option.
