H O N O R K I L L I N G

A CASE REPORT AND DOCTORS’ ROLE TO PREVENT IT

One day when I was working in a University Hospital in Istanbul, Turkey few years ago, a teenage girl walked in with her mother complaining of abdominal swelling. She was very healthy looking but signs of pregnancy were written all over her body. An abdominal ultrasound and pregnancy test confirmed our initial diagnosis.

When she was told her diagnosis, she was very surprised and started to cry while saying, ”Oh my God, oh my God my father is going to kill me. I dishonored the family. My father would definitely kill me.”

I knew honor killing was a real problem in Turkey, especially in rural communities. I asked her what her mother’s opinion would be on this issue and she said, ”My mother would side with my father.”

I became very anxious and hesitated to tell anything to her mother. I began to think that I was not a moral policeman in charge of morality, I was a doctor. My patient is threatened with death, whether it is a disease or a cultural/social reason, it should make no difference. I should do every thing possible to save my patient’s life.

I shared my thoughts with the chief of the department. We had a brainstorming session and we decided that we should blame the mother for her daughter’s pregnancy because there is no sexual education in Turkish schools. We feel that it is the mother’s responsibility to teach their daughters about growing up, menstruation, its meaning, hormonal rage in young age, the strong desire to be with the opposite sex, appropriate sexual behaviors and how not to get pregnant. Since the mother did not teach anything to her daughter, her daughter got pregnant out of ignorance. 

It was the mother’s fault that her daughter is pregnant. She should become a good mother by siding with her daughter and not telling anything to her father. So we confronted the mother with our planned thoughts and told her that we could terminate this very early pregnancy without anybody knowing anything about it. This time the mother started to cry. But she was shedding tears of joy while agreeing with us for the solution of this complicated problem. She asked a question about her daughter’s lost virginity. We told her that we could easily fix that if it ever becomes a problem.

We carried out our plan in complete privacy. A few months later when we saw the young girl again, she was very happy, smiling and profusely thanking us.

Honor killing occurs across the whole world. But it is more common in patriarchal cultural and religious societies of the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa. According to the UN, every year about 5,000 people are killed by family members to save the honor of their family. Honor killing sometimes include pre-marital sex but also extra-marital affairs, rape and homosexuality. To me, the real figure is much higher because most of the honor killings are not reported, or they are erroneously reported as a suicide or natural death.

Honor killings are deeply imbedded in culture, tradition and religions. It is not only justified by Muslim religion but also some Jewish religions, Hindus and Sikhs. The concept of honor killing is extremely important for the families. Legal framework in these countries lean towards honor killing, even encourages it. Many killers have no regrets, some even taking pride killing his sister to save the family honor.

As I see it, honor killing is a major human rights violation. It is shame that an honor codes exist for only female sexual behaviors but not for males. Men can do anything they want. It is considered part of manhood. Even worse, we do not have any honor codes for more dishonorable human behaviors like lying, cheating, stealing, money laundering, profiteering, child sexual abuse, sex trafficking or intellectual dishonesty.