Berlin: German campaigners are pushing for reform to remove legal hurdles for women seeking an abortion, with emotions running high on the issue as the country heads for early elections.
Under German law, abortion is illegal but tolerated in practice for women who are up to 12 weeks pregnant.
However, a woman seeking to terminate a pregnancy must first receive compulsory counselling, followed by a three-day waiting period and many doctors say the process can be complicated as well as traumatic.
Campaigners are urging for abortion to be fully legalised before snap elections in February, with the conservative opposition — which is against changing the law — expected to lead the next government.
The issue was debated in parliament this week and several thousand protesters took to the streets of Berlin and Karlsruhe on Saturday to demand full legalisation.
“Abortion is not murder but it is listed in the penal code directly after homicide and murder,” said a protester in Berlin who gave her name only as Charlotte.
“It is a human right. It is healthcare. It should actually be in the constitution rather than in the penal code,” she said.
Reforming the law on abortion had been a flagship pledge of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-way coalition government between his centre-left Social Democrats, the Greens and the liberal FDP.
But Scholz’s coalition collapsed in early November, with the FDP jumping ship and leaving him in charge of a minority government ahead of elections on February 23.
– ‘Life is life’ –
With the conservative opposition CDU/CSU alliance ahead in the polls, a group of mostly centrist and left-leaning MPs are now seeking to speedily push through the reform.
A total of 327 MPs — mostly from the SPD and Greens — have put their names to a bill in parliament on the issue and are hoping for enough votes from other parties for a majority in the 733-seat chamber.
But as Germany enters full campaign mode ahead of February’s election, the proposal has sparked strong pushback from anti-abortion groups.
CDU leader Friedrich Merz, Germany’s likely next chancellor, said the bill was “likely to trigger a completely unnecessary major conflict in Germany”.
Dorothee Baer, a lawmaker for the CSU in the conservative southern state of Bavaria, said her party saw “no need to question the social consensus on the regulation of abortion”.
“From a Catholic perspective” the change is unacceptable, said the head of the Central Committee of German Catholics, Irme Stetter-Karp. “Life is life from the beginning.”
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), in second place in the polls, has also seized on the debate with a proposal to massively restrict abortions.
The procedure should only be allowed “for criminological or medical reasons”, such as for women who have been raped or whose life is in danger, their draft manifesto said.
– Nazi-era law –
Abortions must “remain the absolute exception”, it argues, proposing that women seeking an abortion be shown ultrasound images of the foetus to dissuade them.
According to a survey commissioned by the families ministry, 80 percent of Germans believe it is wrong that abortion is formally illegal.
In a reform in 2022, parliament voted to remove a Nazi-era law that limited the information doctors and clinics are allowed to provide about abortions.
But many doctors say the subject still carries a stigma in Germany and can feel like an obstacle course for patients, particularly in Bavaria.
Leonie Kuehn, a doctor taking part in the Berlin demo, said there were still “extreme hurdles for us as doctors to perform abortions”.
“All of this would be a bit easier if at least the criminalisation were repealed. It would be a small step in the right direction,” she said.
In April, a commission set up by Scholz’s government recommended making abortion fully legal up to 12 weeks.
Liane Woerner, a law professor and member of the commission, said the current situation was “untenable” and urged the government to “take action to make abortion legal and unpunishable”.
But with just days to go before Scholz officially subjects himself to a confidence vote, paving the way for new elections, protesters are running out of time.
“Members of the Bundestag have a historic opportunity to legalise abortion before the next election,” said Leonie Weber from campaign group “Legalise Abortion — Now!”.
“We cannot allow conservative and right-wing forces to prevent this… We are the majority and we want legalisation.”
fec/jm
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