A commission appointed by the government recommends that abortion be reregulated by law. However, that doesn’t mean that it will happen that way. On the contrary.
The results of the government commission on abortion will actually only be officially presented on Monday. The recommendations are already known, the “Spiegel” reported on them, including the star they are there – and they are surprisingly clear. Perhaps even more clearly than some in the SPD, Greens and FDP would have thought – and wished – in advance.
Before the last federal election, the SPD and the Greens called for abortion to no longer be regulated in criminal law, i.e. for paragraph 218 to be abolished. In the coalition agreement, however, they initially agreed with the FDP to “examine” regulation of abortion outside of the criminal code.
The traffic light set up a commission for this more than a year ago. Their work is now finished. The experts – nine scientists, mostly lawyers – are in favor of new legal regulations on abortion. Unanimous and clear. If they have their way, there is no way around it. Actually. But will the traffic light, which already has enough conflicts to settle, really undertake this reform?
Abortion: Union threatens to sue
Hardly any other topic has such great potential for social division. In the past, debates on this issue were sometimes irreconcilable. No wonder, after all, regulation of abortion must always balance the protection of unborn life with the rights of a woman who may become pregnant unintentionally. There are also religious beliefs: the churches are also actively involved in this debate.
Opponents of new regulations therefore see the current legislation from the 1990s as a hard-won social compromise. Touching this would unnecessarily provoke a conflict. The Union’s Parliamentary Managing Director, Thorsten Frei, is – unsurprisingly – threatening to take legal action before the Federal Constitutional Court if the coalition adopts the working group’s proposals.
Leading representatives of the traffic light coalition sound correspondingly undecided. It has long been clear what this is all about.
Report recommends legalization for the first twelve weeks
A commission like this is practical at first – after all, you can always point out that the issue has been addressed and you are now waiting for results. Nobody can object to an exam. It only becomes difficult when the results are available. Because the government is free to decide what it derives from it.
In the report, the nine experts expressly recommend legalizing abortion in the first twelve weeks. To date, such an intervention has been considered a crime against unborn life and is regulated in Section 218 of the Criminal Code. However, termination remains unpunished under certain circumstances, for example if it takes place within the so-called advisory rule. This states that the person concerned requested the abortion, sought advice and waited for three days.
According to the experts, it would also be possible to allow abortions even after the 12th week. This is at the discretion of the legislature. Only in the late phase of pregnancy, when the fetus is already viable on its own, should abortion continue to be prohibited, the report says.
However, the fact that abortion is no longer a criminal offense does not mean that there are no longer any rules for it. Obligations to provide advice can continue to be specified.
SPD: “We’re taking a closer look at that now”
After these results were made public early, the traffic light coalition was cautious – officially on the grounds that they wanted to wait for the actual presentation of the report on Monday.
In the Chancellor’s SPD party, parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich does not want the experts’ results to be seen as an order: “We are now looking at it closely,” he said before the parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday about the results. The commission derived its recommendations from “constitutional and European law concerns”. “I believe that the coalition partners in particular will now be able to continue to sharpen their arguments with this commission report.” Not also the SPD?
It seems as if the comrades have left the argumentative template aside for the time being because they are well aware of the explosive power of the debate. This had already been conducted “hardly” in the past, recalled parliamentary group manager Katja Mast on Wednesday morning, and “the first skirmishes” were already taking place. So? Wait and see is apparently the motto. Sort through first, don’t polarize unnecessarily. Mast is bricking.
Things don’t look much different for the Greens either. Although there are some in the party who are particularly concerned about the deletion of paragraph 218, as it unnecessarily stigmatizes the women affected and worsens the care situation. Many Greens are – also or even primarily – because of the feminist clarity in the party, not least co-party leader Ricarda Lang and Family Minister Lisa Paus. But now the Greens are also exercising caution: Before commenting, they want to wait and see how exactly the experts justify their position. MPs do not want to speak even in the background and inquiries remain unanswered. The topic is obviously too hot.
FDP doesn’t want to open the barrel
And with the Liberals? Publicly, the FDP doesn’t sound much different than its coalition partners; they want to examine and discuss the commission’s results. But behind the scenes you get the impression that there isn’t much left to examine and discuss. The strategy is in place: We’re definitely not going to open this barrel. There’s nothing to be gained, that’s the tenor. That would only provoke a new culture war – and no one could want that.
There may be some FDP MPs who see it differently and advocate for paragraph 218 to be deleted. However, no rush is to be expected from them. This has to do with a video, nine seconds short, published a little over two years ago. In it, five FDP politicians celebrated the abolition of paragraph 219a, the ban on advertising for abortions. They danced through the catacombs of the Bundestag with masks and sunglasses.
The reform of the advertising ban is in the coalition agreement and was undisputed in the FDP. However, recording a party video on such a sensitive topic was not only criticized by the CDU and CSU. Even many liberals thought the maneuver was completely over the top. The headwind was big. The MP in charge took the dance off the internet. Without a doubt: social modernization is not a winning issue among the already insecure liberal core electorate. In this context too, one can understand the FDP’s not-with-us attitude.
The traffic light wants to pass a reform of the naming law and the self-determination law in the Bundestag this week. Two milestones of progressive social policy, which should be the unifying element of this coalition. The liberal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann is responsible for both bills. There is broad support for both in his party. There is no prospect of abolishing paragraph 218.
Even before the official publication of the commission report, one can assume: The FDP is not moving. So probably nothing moves at all.