Health
Federal states want to make medical abortions legally secure after online consultation
A demonstration for the right to abortion in front of the Brandenburg Gate. Photo: picture alliance / dpa
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More and more people are taking advantage of online medical consultations. Even women who want to carry out an abortion themselves using medication – so far a legal gray area. The federal states now want to create a legal basis for this with the federal government.
In the future, pregnant women throughout Germany may be able to abort themselves with a drug after an online medical consultation. The states now want to work with the federal government to develop a legally secure basis for this option, which is already being practiced in some cases.
The Ministers for Equality and Women decided at their conference in Hamburg, as the German Press Agency learned. There are already offers from doctors, for example in Berlin, where women receive medication for abortion after the online consultation – no matter where they live in Germany. The application for the initiative came from Baden-Württemberg.
Abortions after online consultations are already taking place
The responsible state secretary Ute Leidig (Greens) explained that one had to face reality. “Pregnancy abortions are currently being accompanied by telemedicine. However, many legal regulations date from a time when this possibility of medical abortion did not yet exist.” That now has to be adjusted. “We must not leave the women alone – and we certainly must not leave them in legal uncertainty.” However, Leidig also said that one would have to wait and see what the outcome of the discussion process would be.
In principle, physicians can easily use the video consultation for all patients and diseases. Even the exclusive advice or treatment via the Internet is permitted under certain circumstances in individual cases. “There are also no regulations for abortions that would restrict the use of video consultations,” explains the Ministry of Social Affairs in Stuttgart.
Legal ambiguities complicate the situation
But there are also specific problems: So far, for example, it has been the law that pharmacies are only allowed to send the medicines for an abortion to a facility where the women can also be treated afterwards. In addition, it has not yet been clearly clarified what “the necessary follow-up treatment” includes in the event of a medical termination.
There are also no specifications as to which evidence the doctors must bring to the pharmacies in order to make it clear that they are a facility with the possibility of after-treatment, the ministry explained. In addition, it must be clarified how, in the case of the medicine being sent by post, it can be ensured that unauthorized persons cannot remove the medicine.