They jammed the streets of Istanbul, thousands of women holding signs with a message for the government ---- 'my body, my choice.'
The protest is in response to a new law championed by Prime Minister Tayip Erdogan that will shorten the time period for a woman have an abortion from ten to four weeks.
SOUNDBITE: Protester, Busra Alpaslan saying:
"We are here today because we are against this law that's forbidding abortion because the abortion is woman's right and this is not about abortion being a bad thing or anything, it's about (how the) government wants women to be only wives and mothers and we are against it."
Many in this crowd say they're furious about Erdogan's recent comments. Last week he characterized abortion and caesarean births as secret plots to stall Turkey's economic growth.
While details of the bill are still being worked on --- these demonstrators say Erdogan, a religious and social conservative who has pushed for each woman to have at least three children, has overstepped his bounds.
Deborah Gembara, Reuters
