Turkey has become the first country to make elective Caesarean sections punishable by law, threatening fines for doctors who persuade women to have surgery deemed unnecessary.
President Abdullah Gul approved a law that permits caesareans only in the “case of a medical emergency”, and imposes fines of up to 1,000 lira on doctors who persuade women to go under the knife unnecessarily. Turkey has one of the world’s highest caesarean rates, with the procedure accounting for about 48 per cent of births. According to the health ministry, up to 70 per cent of all births in some private hospitals involve caesareans. It accuses doctors of pushing women towards the operations out of greed.