Mothers afraid of pain cannot raise brave children, Turkish health minister says

ISTANBUL – Anadolu Agency

Health Minister Mehmet Müezzinoğlu said the ministry will encourage natural births rather than C-sections. DHA Photo

Mothers who are afraid of suffering pain while delivering children will not be capable of raising “brave” offspring, Turkey’s health minister has said.

“One of our friends said ‘mothers might be afraid of the pain’ [during normal delivery]. How can a mother afraid of pain raise a brave child? A mother must be brave to raise a brave child. I don’t find it right to legitimize C-sections just because the mother is afraid of pain. Maternity means courage. Mothers are brave. If the child is born naturally and the mother is brave, then that child will be strong and brave, too,” said Health Minister Mehmet Müezzinoğlu.

Müezzinoğlu said the ministry will encourage natural births rather than C-sections. Epidural delivery or delivery with hypnosis could be taken into the agenda as part of efforts to encourage the normal delivery, the minister added. “We want out health workers to prepare mothers for normal delivery and to make it a priority.”

The minister also said payments to health workers on duty in emergency rooms would be increased by 50 percent.

Last year, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attacked abortion, calling it “murder,” while calling for an end to C-sections on the grounds that it was part of a foreign plot to control Turkey’s population. The prime minister was widely criticized and pilloried both at home and abroad for the comments.

Touching on the establishment of a breast milk bank, Müezzinoğlu said: “We will pass the legal regulations when the Justice Ministry and Interior Ministry dimensions are completed. Then this project will be realized.”

The breast milk project had been delayed because of an Islamic ruling declaring two non-biologically related children to be siblings if they are breastfed by the same woman.