Status: 03/27/2023 10:57 am
In 2021, around 104,000 significantly more pregnant women had an abortion than in the previous year. According to the Federal Statistical Office, a clear cause cannot be identified. In 2012 the number was already higher.
In Germany there were almost ten percent more abortions in 2022 than in the previous year. The Federal Statistical Office reports of around 104,000 reported cases and an increase of 9.9 percent. According to the information, the number of abortions was above the level of the years 2014 to 2020, when the number of reported cases was always between around 99,000 and 101,000.
A clear reason for the strong increase in 2022 cannot be identified from the data, it said. Medical indications – including the danger to life and limb of the mother – and sexual offenses were the reason for the termination in four percent of the cases. The remaining 96 percent of the reported abortions were carried out according to the so-called counseling regulation.
The last time the number of abortions was higher than in 2022 was in 2012 with 106,800 cases. In 2021, 94,600 cases were the lowest since statistics began.
Around 70 percent of women under 35 years old
According to the Federal Statistical Office, seven out of ten women (around 70 percent) who had an abortion in 2022 were between 18 and 34 years old, around 19 percent between 35 and 39 years. About eight percent were 40 years and older, around three percent younger than 18 years. Around 41 percent had not yet given birth to a child before the abortion.
According to the information, most abortions (51 percent) were carried out using the so-called suction method, and 35 percent used the drug Mifegyne. The interventions were mainly carried out on an outpatient basis.
Laws under scrutiny
According to the counseling regulation, an abortion remains unpunished if the pregnancy is terminated by a doctor within twelve weeks of conception, the pregnant woman requests the termination and she has proven to the doctor by means of a certificate from a recognized body that she received pregnancy conflict counseling at least three days previously .
Demands for abortion to go unpunished are being raised again and again, most recently by Family Minister Paus. The coalition agreement of the traffic light parties stipulates that “regulations for abortion outside of the penal code” should be examined.
They are free to decide whether doctors and clinics perform abortions. In some regions of Germany there are few or no offers.