Young activist perspectives towards Turkish sexual and reproductive health policy and services :|problems, barriers, ideals

Abstract

With the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, the rights based approach has become the main policy framework for sexual and reproductive health (SRH). The action plan of this conference had a specific focus on youth and their inclusion in SRH service provision and decision-making, which paved the way for the establishment of youth-led organisations around sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) in many countries including Turkey. Despite of almost a two decade history of youth activism around SRHR, youth activist perceptions of SRH policies and services have not adequately addressed in the literature. Against this background, this thesis explores the perception of young SRHR activists towards SRH policies and services and their own role in SRHR promotion in Turkey — a country where SRHR are under increasing political pressure alongside many others such as Hungary and Poland. This thesis offers a thematic analysis of qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews with 18 youth activists from three major youth-led organizations working on SRHR related issues between October 2020 and January 2021. The thesis finds that young activists identify the following major problems in SRH policy and services: barriers to accessing reliable SRH information, SRH services and essential products, and shortages in these domains as well as concerns about patient confidentiality. The analysis here also demonstrates that youth SRHR activists are important social actors in SRHR advocacy and promotion in a politically challenging context such as Turkey, which breaks the prevailing monistic and culturalist narratives aiming to legitimize backlashes in SRHR.