Abortion is 'murder,' says Turkey's PM

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday he considered abortion as "murder." "I am a prime minister who is against Caesarean births. I consider abortion as murder," Erdogan was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency.

Erdogan further stated that "every abortion is Uludere", referring to the botched air raid that had claimed 34 lives.

"Nobody should have the right to allow this. You either kill a baby in mother's womb or you kill it after birth. There's no difference." In Turkey, abortion is legal during the first 10 weeks of pregrancy. The woman's consent is required but if the woman is married, the husband's consent is also required.

Erdogan, whose governing Justice and Development Party takes its roots from Islam, has repeatedly called on women to have at least three children. In 2004, Erdogan's government backed a law criminalising adultery but later abandoned it after intense pressure from the European Union.