--- description: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says that Muslim families cannot "understand and accept" birth control and family planning title: Turkey's Erdogan Says Family Planning Not for Muslims image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2974db97f1ed85d/698895800a4a2279029c9de4/gettyimages-534012032.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Turkey's President Says Muslims Can't Accept Family Planning and Birth Control by [Simon Lewis](/author/simon-lewis/) ## Simon Lewis Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 31, 2016 3:39 AM CUT  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul on May 24, 2016 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul on May 24, 2016Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images by [Simon Lewis](/author/simon-lewis/) ## Simon Lewis Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 31, 2016 3:39 AM CUT Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan [said](https://www.yahoo.com/news/family-planning-not-muslims-says-turkeys-erdogan-001816630.html "undefined") that Muslim families cannot “understand and accept” birth control and family planning. Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul Monday that it was women’s responsibility to make sure Turkey’s population — currently more than 78 million — keeps growing, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). “We need to increase the number of our descendants,” Erdogan said. “People talk about birth control, about family planning. No Muslim family can understand and accept that! As God and as the great prophet said, we will go this way. And in this respect the first duty belongs to mothers.” His comments are the latest to anger women’s-rights activists in the country. Erdogan has previously described birth control as “treason,” according to AFP, and in 2012, women activists [protested](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-abortion-idUSBRE85207520120603 "undefined") in the streets over the then Prime Minister’s announcement that his ruling party planned to increase restrictions on abortion, which is legal up to the 10th week of pregnancy in Turkey. \[[_AFP_](https://www.yahoo.com/news/family-planning-not-muslims-says-turkeys-erdogan-001816630.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4351910/turkey-erdogan-birth-control-planning/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4351910/turkey-erdogan-birth-control-planning/"},"headline":"Turkey's President Says Muslims Can't Accept Family Planning and Birth Control","datePublished":"2016-05-31T03:39:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:55:36.354Z","description":"\"We need to increase the number of our descendants\"","url":"https://time.com/4351910/turkey-erdogan-birth-control-planning/","keywords":["abortion","women","Turkey","Recep Tayyip Erdogan","Birth Control"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2974db97f1ed85d/698895800a4a2279029c9de4/gettyimages-534012032.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Simon Lewis","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/simon-lewis/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2974db97f1ed85d/698895800a4a2279029c9de4/gettyimages-534012032.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TURKEY-ISTANBUL-WORLD HUMANITARIAN SUMMIT-CLOSING-PRESS CONFERENCE","caption":"TURKEY-ISTANBUL-WORLD HUMANITARIAN SUMMIT-CLOSING-PRESS CONFERENCE","creditText":"Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4351910/turkey-erdogan-birth-control-planning/","name":"Turkey's President Says Muslims Can't Accept Family Planning and Birth Control"}}]}] ```