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Berlin – According to SPD members in the Bundestag, abortion should not continue to be a crime in the future. However, there should still be “clear legal requirements” for this, according to one of the German press agency this position paper, which will be adopted at a group meeting tomorrow.
Abortions are currently illegal under Section 218 of the Penal Code. In fact, an abortion within the first twelve weeks remains unpunished if the woman seeks prior counseling. Abortion also remains unpunished if there are medical reasons or if it is carried out because of rape. There is always debate about abolishing the paragraph. More recently, a commission appointed by the federal government recommended the decriminalization of abortion in the first weeks of pregnancy.
“Abortions must be legalized within a specific period to be determined by law”, are now also suggested by politicians from the SPD parliamentary group. How far this should extend beyond twelve weeks is not stated in the article.
It says: “We are in favor of a time frame that is linked to the ability of the fetus to survive outside the uterus with sufficient time interval, as soon as there is a chance of survival outside the uterus in individual cases, abortion should generally be performed.” Prohibited.
Doctors, but not the pregnant woman, should be able to be prosecuted for terminating a pregnancy after the legal deadline has expired. To sanction abortion without the consent of the pregnant woman, an additional criminal offense should be created.
In their 2021 coalition agreement, the SPD, the Greens and the FDP simply agreed to create a commission on reproductive self-determination and reproductive medicine to examine abortion regulations outside the criminal code, as well as options for legalizing egg donation and selfless surrogacy.
It is about better reconciling women’s right to self-determination and the protection of unborn life, said the legal policy spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group, Sonja Eichwede.
The period within which a self-determined abortion is permitted must also do justice to this. The obligation to provide advice should be replaced by a legal right to advice. His group now intends to approach coalition partners in order to begin negotiations on changing the law. © dpa/aerzteblatt.de