Germany should overturn its 150-year old ban on abortions and make terminations legal within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, a government-appointed panel of experts said on Monday.
The Commission on Reproductive Self-Determination and Reproductive Medicine was set up by the German government last year after the coalition government of the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens and the Free Democrats pledged to scrap the current abortion law that makes terminations illegal.
Under the German criminal code, which dates back to 1871, abortions are technically illegal and punishable with up to three years in prison, although they are rarely prosecuted.
The procedure is de-criminalized up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, but anyone seeking a termination must attend a compulsory counselling session followed by a mandatory three-day waiting period. After 12 weeks, abortions are only allowed in exceptional circumstances, such as if the pregnancy or birth poses a risk to the mother’s physical or mental health.
Liane Woerner, legal scholar at the University of Constance and a member of the commission, said “the fundamental illegality” of abortion in the early phase of pregnancy was “not tenable” and that action should be taken to make abortion “legal and unpunishable.”
According to the German Federal Statistical Office, around 100,000 abortions take place in Germany every year, the overwhelming majority of them within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
The commission also examined the current bans on egg donation and surrogacy in Germany, saying on Monday that egg donation should be legalized and regulated by law.
“Due to ethical, practical and legal considerations, altruistic surrogacy should remain prohibited or only be permitted under very strict conditions,” it added.
German opposition parties the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) oppose the changes, saying the current wording of the law already offers enough protection for women seeking abortions. The Central Committee of German Catholics and the German Bishops’ Conference have also spoken out against any liberalization.
The commission’s recommendations are just the first step in what could be a lengthy process. “(The commission’s) recommendations provide a good basis for the open and fact-based conversation that is now necessary,” German Minister for Family Affairs Lisa Paus said in a statement on Monday.
Speaking at a news conference the same day, German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach appealed for people to “avoid slipping into an ideological discussion.”
“We, as the federal government, will therefore also discuss the results in great detail, discuss them internally, and will then also propose an orderly process as to how we as the federal government, but also as parliament, deal with these results,” he said.
The minister added that Germany had “major problems” in providing abortion care. “Availability is not as high as it needs to be… it is not possible to arrange an abortion in the time that is required. That’s why we have to react there. And that is what we will do,” he said.
“This is also about overcoming obstacles. The obstacles that exist here are not acceptable. And this is now a result that has built up empirically, parallel to the actual work of the government commission. But we see an immediate need for action there.”
Polish lawmakers push for change
Germany is not the only country contemplating the broadening of abortion rights.
Polish lawmakers backed plans to end the country’s near-total abortion ban last Friday. The proposals from Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s party would legalize abortion up to 12 weeks, a move more in line with some Western European countries.
While any changes are likely to be vetoed by Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, who is aligned with the populist former governing party, Law and Justice, a presidential election due in May next year could be a turning point. The government will be keen to mobilize women voters in support of its likely pro-reform candidate.
In March, France became the world’s first country to enshrine abortion rights in its constitution, the culmination of an effort that began in direct response to the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
