Turkey drops anti-abortion legislation

Turkey’s conservative government has dropped plans for a controversial bill that would have slashed the time limit for abortions.“The government has backed away from initial plans to curb abortion rights,” an unnamed parliamentary source told the AFP news agency on Friday.The source said that the Islamist-rooted government would instead seek to limit the number of Caesarean sections being performed in the country.The legislation, initially proposed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), would have required all abortions to take place within the first six weeks of pregnancy, down from the 10 weeks currently allowed.Experts said the limit would have effectively outlawed abortions, since most women do not realise they are pregnant until around the sixth week of pregnancy.Thousands of women and activists have staged demonstrations throughout the country in protest of the planned measures, while Turkish media published surveys that indicated curbing abortion rights would cause the AKP to lose votes, even among its female supporters.Nurettin Canikli, an influential AKP lawmaker, also said the ruling party would not introduce a bill to curb abortion rights.“The abortion issue is off the agenda. No legislation will be introduced to the parliament on this issue,” he told the Turkish daily Hurriyet.Recep Akdag, Turkey’s health minister, told reporters that his ministry would on Monday submit a report to the cabinet regarding abortion rights. he did not elaborate further.