Opinion
Legalize abortion?
Experts: Paragraph 218 violates women’s basic rights – traffic light: No matter
Demonstrators demand: “My body – my decision”.
© IPON / Imago Images
Abortion must be regulated differently in Germany, says a commission of experts. So everything is clear? Far from it, you can’t rely on anything on this topic.
Actually the situation is clear. The SPD, Greens and FDP commission nine experts to check whether the Abortion should be regulated differently by law in Germany. The result: Yes, he should.
The regulation, which dates back to the 1990s, violates the fundamental rights of a woman who may be pregnant unintentionally, according to the report, which will be officially presented on Monday. The current legal situation does not stand up to “constitutional, international and European law reviews”.
To date, abortion is generally prohibited in Germany according to Section 218 of the Criminal Code. However, women who have the procedure carried out will not be penalized if it takes place within the first twelve weeks and they have received advice beforehand. The experts now say: Abortion should be legalized in the first twelve weeks. Even in the weeks that follow, they still see scope for this. Abortion should only be prohibited in the late phase of pregnancy – then the rights of the unborn child prevail.
Abortion: Politics deserves to be condemned
With such a clear finding in their hands, democratic government parties will now quickly set about rectifying the situation. Of course, in 2024 they want to ensure that women’s basic rights are guaranteed. You might think so. But that is not the case.
The self-proclaimed “Progressive Coalition” probably does not want to touch Paragraph 218 – for fear that the issue could further fuel an alleged division in society. The FDP says behind closed doors that this is definitely not going to be opened. The SPD is cautious and even among the feminist Greens, hardly anyone seriously believes that anything will happen on this “delicate” issue in this legislature. Especially since the opposition bank is already warning the Union that the traffic lights should not “unnecessarily drive new divisions” into society – if in doubt, they would once again go to the Federal Constitutional Court
Even before the report was officially presented, German politics had earned itself a disgrace. While France enshrines abortion as a fundamental right in the constitution, in Germany people cannot even agree that something needs to change when women’s rights are violated.
Only on this common basis could one even discuss what exactly a clever new legal regulation could look like. Maybe even conservative agitators would then notice: Just because abortion is legalized doesn’t mean that it is no longer regulated by law. When it comes to the question of how exactly this should happen, the experts see a lot of scope. It’s outrageous that nobody seems to want to seriously deal with this.