Expert group says abortion in Germany should be decriminalized during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy

BERLIN — A commission of independent experts recommended on Monday that abortion in Germany should no longer be covered by the country’s criminal code and be legalized during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Abortion is currently considered illegal in Germany, but is not punishable if the woman undergoes mandatory counseling and a three-day waiting period before having the procedure.

Germany’s progressive coalition government, made up of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats, tasked the commission of experts with looking into the issue of abortion, which has been a hotly debated topic for decades. .

Germany’s approach to abortion has been more restrictive than in many other European countries. Some German women have traveled to neighboring countries such as the Netherlands – especially during the later stages of pregnancy, when abortion is considered completely illegal in Germany except in very serious cases – to have abortions in those countries.

Other European countries are in very different positions in their approach to abortion. France, for example, wrote the guaranteed right to abortion into its constitution last month, in a global first and a powerful message of support for women around the world. Meanwhile, Poland’s parliament held a long-awaited debate last week on liberalizing the country’s law, which is more restrictive than Germany’s, although many women terminate pregnancies at home with pills sent from abroad.

Although the German commission’s recommendation that the government decriminalize abortion is not binding, it is likely to once again heat up the discussion on the issue in the country. It could eventually also lead to parliament reforming the current regulations, but at this point it is unclear if and when this would happen.

“Our recommendation is to move away from this illegality and label abortion in the early stages of pregnancy as legal,” Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf, a law professor who is a member of the commission, told journalists in Berlin.

“This is not simply a formality, but you can imagine it makes a huge difference to the women involved, those who are in the situation of considering whether they should request an abortion, whether what they are doing is right or wrong,” she added. .

Many women who had abortions in Germany described the mandatory counseling as humiliating, while others said it helped them make decisions.

In addition to the complicated legal status of abortion in Germany, experts also highlighted that in recent years the number of doctors willing to perform an abortion in the country has decreased and that it has become more difficult for women to find a doctor in the country. your region to help them.

The commission said that if the government decides to make abortion legal during the first 12 weeks, it must also ensure that women who wish to terminate abortions have quick and easy access to organizations and doctors who provide them.

Currently, about 10% of doctors who perform medical intervention have faced criminal charges, although they are almost never found guilty.

The Catholic Church, one of the main opponents of liberalizing abortion regulations in Germany, quickly condemned the commission’s recommendations.

“The commission is considering legalizing abortion in the early stages of pregnancy. This would mean the end of a clear concept of protecting life,” said Irme Stetter-Karp, president of the powerful lay group Central Committee of German Catholics.

“Human dignity has existed since the beginning,” she added, calling the proposal “unacceptable.”

In addition to recommendations for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, the commission said that for the middle stage of pregnancy, it should be up to lawmakers to decide whether and for how long an abortion should be legal, while in the last trimester, abortions should not be allowed. , unless there is a strong medical or social reason.

“The shorter the pregnancy, the more likely an abortion will be permitted; and the more advanced the gestational age, the more important the needs of the unborn child are,” the commission members said in a summary of their report, which they were due to deliver to government ministers later on Thursday.