It is recommended that: individuals choose the nursing profession conscientiously; nurses need to be given professional awareness; their professional organizations need to be strengthened; and plans need to be made to increase research and to accumulate both knowledge and expertise.

Neural tube defects (NTDs) are very serious malformations for the fetus, causing either low life expectancy or a chance of survival only with costly and difficult surgical interventions. In western countries the average prevalence is 1/1000-2000 and in Turkey it is 4/1000. The aim of the study was to characterize ethical approaches at institutional level to the fetus with an NTD and the mother, and the role of health care professionals in four major centers in Turkey. The authors chose perinatology units of four university hospitals and prepared questionnaires for the responsible professionals concerning their own and their institution's ethical approaches to the fetus with an NTD and the mother. The investigation revealed that there were no institutional ethical frameworks or ethics committees available to professional teams in the units. The roles of the health care professionals and their individual decisions and approaches based on ethical principles are described. The ethical decision-making process concerning fetuses with NTDs, examples of institutional approaches to the topic and institutional frameworks, and the role of nurses and other health care professionals are all discussed, based on a literature review. The authors suggest that institutional ethical frameworks, ethics committees, professionals' ethics education and multidisciplinary teamwork should be established for critical situations such as fetuses with an NTD.

Objective: The aim of this study was to reveal and discuss occupational health risks, violence against sex workers working in brothels and their working conditions in Ankara. Materials and Methods:The study included 138 sex workers. Data were collected at face to face interviews with a questionnaire composed of 40 questions about socio-demographic features, familial characteristics, reasons for becoming a sex worker, experiences of violence and occupational health risks.Results: Twenty-two point five percent of the women were aged 21-30 years and 39.9% were aged 31-40 years. The mean time of education was 5.9±3.5 (0-14) years. Forty-eight point five percent of the women were exposed to physical abuse and 13% of the women had been exposed to sexual abuse in their childhood. Fifty-five point eight percent of the women reported that their clients always used condoms, but 97.1% of the women noted that their clients insisted on not using a condom. Fourteen point five percent and 70.3% of the women were exposed to physical and verbal violence respectively from their clients. Ten point one percent of the women suffered sexual assault while working.Conclusion: Sex workers, like other people, should have human rights, all types of violence that they face should be eliminated and the social conditions they are exposed to should be improved. Sexually transmitted diseases, the most important health risk of sex workers, should be considered as occupational diseases in the new regulations.

Violence against women is a serious problem in Turkey. The Women and Ethics Commission of the Turkish Physicians' Association (Ankara Physicians' Chamber) has undertaken significant work to counteract this. This article gives some indications of the sources of violence and discusses its social and health care implications. The Commission is pivotal in the education of women physicians and in heightening awareness of the situation. An outline is given of this work and recommendations are made on how violence against women can be tackled and eliminated.

In Turkey, as in many other countries, infertility is generally regarded as a negative phenomenon in a woman's life and is associated with a lot of stigma by society. In other words, female infertility and having a baby using Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) have to be taken into consideration with respect to gender motherhood, social factors, religion and law. Yet if a woman chooses to use ART she has to deal with the consequences of her decision, such as being ostracized by society. Other types of procedures in this area, such as sperm and ova donation or surrogate motherhood, are not permitted in law. However; both before and after the development of this techonology, society has been finding its own solutions which are rarely questioned and are still performed This article will discuss what these practices are and try to reach some pragmatic conclusions concerning female infertility, the concept of motherhood and some traditional practices in Turkey.