Archeology of the Abortion Law in Turkey: Abortion Regulations, their Gains, Constrains and Contestations Abortion laws have long been at the center of debates over abortion. This article aims to dive into the abortion laws that came into effect from late Ottoman period to nowadays Turkey, to examine constitutive paradigms of abortion regulations. In this regard, the article illustrates how the current abortion regime in Turkey has come into being through a simultaneous but often under tension process of legalization and medicalization of abortion. It analyzes political debates and legal processes paving the way for the legalization of abortion in 1983. The article construes shifts in prominent abortion narratives, evolving from a public health rhetoric vanguarded by medical and legal experts during the debates in 1970s and 80s, to a more feminist approach addressing women’s realities with the recent abortion debate in 2012. Finally, the article tackles the current abortion law and construes its gains, constrains and contestations.
