Turkish president: 'No Muslim family' should use birth control

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
(Image credit: Adam Berry/Getty Images)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday echoed previous comments he made about birth control, announcing during a televised speech that "no Muslim family" should use contraception or family planning.

"We will multiply our descendants," said Erdogan, a father of four, and later he called on "well-educated future mothers" to not use contraception. Many supporters of his AK Party are conservative Muslims, and during a wedding ceremony in 2014, Erdogan called birth control "treason." Previously, he said women should have at least three children and that women cannot be treated as equal to men, BBC News reports.

The Turkish Statistical Institute says in 2015, the country's fertility rate was 2.14 children per woman. While that's half the rate in 1980, it's still one of the highest in Europe. You can watch Erdogan's comments below. Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.