Abortion in Germany

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Abortion in Germany is illegal except to save the life of the mother but is nonpunishable during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy upon condition of mandatory counseling. The same goes later in pregnancy in cases that the pregnancy poses an important danger to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman. In the case that the abortion is because of a rape, counseling is not mandatory. The woman needs to receive counseling, called Schwangerschaftskonfliktberatung ("pregnancy-conflict counseling"), at least three days prior to the abortion and must take place at a state-approved centre, which afterwards gives the applicant a Beratungsschein ("certificate of counseling").

Contents

Doctors provide medication to cause the abortion, and observe to ensure there are no negative reactions to the medication.

Legislation

Abortion is illegal under Section 218 of the German criminal code, and punishable by up to three years in prison (or up to five years for "reckless" abortions or those against the pregnant woman's will). Section 218a of the German criminal code, called Exception to liability for abortion, makes an exception for abortions with counseling in the first trimester, and for medically necessary abortions and abortions due to unlawful sexual acts (such as sexual abuse of a minor or rape) thereafter. [1] [2]

All abortions in Germany must be performed by a medical doctor. [2]

Statistics

[3]
Year199620012006201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022
Total abortions130 899134 964119 710108 867106 815102 80299 71599 23798 721101 209100 986100 89399 94894 596103 927
Live births796013734 475672 724662 685673 544682 069714 927737 575792 141784 901787 523778 090773 144795 492738 856
Abortions per 1000 births (live)164,4183,8177,9164,3158,6150,7139,5134,5124.6128,9128,2129,7129,3118,9140,7
Abortions per 1000 women (15-44 years)7,658,047,427,527,457,237,056,986,967,137,107,087,036,657,15
Number of women (15-44 years) in Tsd.17 10916 78316 13314 48014 33714 21614 14614 21514 18214 18814 22214 24014 21214 21514 545
by marital status:
Single53 19562 80661 91961 65460 99358 81057 58457 23456 06957 29458 36658 07057 81455 05960 602
Married68 52463 68651 11942 15340 74239 35537 62837 65938 52939 66938 71238 72738 28635 96139 656
Widowed760555382207222213195228214188174198182182199
Divorced8 4207 9176 2904 8534 8584 4244 3084 1163 9094 0583 7343 8983 6663 3943 470

Abortion-numbers had been falling over the last 25 years, there were 130,000-135,000 per year between 1996 and 2002, but this had fallen to a low of fewer than 99,000 abortions in 2016 and since then stabilized at around 100,000 abortions yearly. [4]

As of 2018, the abortion rate was 129 abortions per 1,000 live births. [5]

History

Early

Abortion legislation was codified in item 133 of the Constitutio Criminalis Carolina (1532). Later were particular laws in Germany, e.g. in Prussia part 2 title 20 section 986-990 of General State Laws for the Prussian States (1794). 1851 it was codified in sections 181 and 182 of the Penal Code for Prussia, which formed the basis for the Penal Code of the North German Federation (1870). [6] On 15 May 1871, following the Proclamation of the German Empire, the latter code was incorporated into sections 218–220 of the Penal Code for the German Reich (Strafgesetzbuch), taking effect on 1 January 1872. Section 218 outlawed abortion, requiring a penal term for the woman and any involved person. Legalization of abortion was first widely discussed in Germany during the early 20th century. During the Weimar Republic, such discussion led 1926 to a reduction in the penalty for abortion, and in 1927 a court's decision –similar to the United Kingdom decision R v Bourne  –decriminalized abortion in cases of grave danger to the life of the mother.

Nazi era

Nazi Germany's eugenics laws severely punished abortion for women belonging to the "Aryan race", but permitted abortion on wider and more explicit grounds than before if the fetus was believed to be deformed or disabled or if termination otherwise was deemed desirable on eugenic grounds, such as the child or either parent suspected of being carrier of a genetic disease. Sterilization of the parents also took place in some such cases. In cases where the parents were Jewish, abortion was also not punished. [7] [8]

The severest abortion prohibitions were incorporated into law on 9 March 1943. Section 218 stated that "a woman who kills her fetus or permits such a killing by another will be punished by a prison sentence and, in especially serious cases, by penitentiary. An attempt is punishable. Whoever else kills the fetus of a pregnant woman will be punished by a penitentiary sentence, in milder cases by prison. If the perpetrator through such deeds continuously impairs the vitality of the German nation, the death penalty is imposed. Whoever procures for the pregnant woman a means or objects for killing the fetus will be punished by prison sentence, and in especially serious cases, by penitentiary". During World War II, abortion policy in Nazi Germany varied depending on the people group and territory the policy was directed at. The commonality between policies was its purpose in promoting the birth rate and population of the "Aryan race" and minimizing the population of others (such as Slavs), and those deemed a burden on German society such as the children of disabled and mentally ill persons. Forced abortions of Ostarbeiter for instance was referenced in documents from the Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals. It has been categorized as a part of Nazi Germany's "systematic program of genocide, aimed at the destruction of foreign nations and ethnic groups". [9]

While abortion had been punished by the law in Poland previously, under Nazi occupation these prohibitions were removed and abortion was instead encouraged subject to whether the child had a German father or could be racially "Germanized." Similarly, the policy for Eastern female workers, was that pregnancy may be "interrupted" if the pregnant woman so "desired" which gave the appearance of consent on behalf of the mother. For pregnancies of non-German woman, whether an abortion would be permitted also depended on the mother's nationality, but primarily turned on whether the father was German or if the mother was of a race that could be "Germanized." If the child was deemed to be of a race that could contribute to the German race and the father was German then an abortion, or as described in Nazi documents an "interruption of pregnancy," would likely not be permitted. Such determinations were made by the Race and Settlement Main Office (RuSHA)– who would determine the fate of the child. [10]

Post-war

After World War II, abortion remained broadly illegal throughout both German states: West Germany retained the legal situation of 1927, while East Germany passed a slightly more encompassing set of exceptions in 1950. The legal requirements in the West were extremely strict, and often led women to seek abortions elsewhere, particularly in the Netherlands. It has been estimated that about 2 million women had abortions each year between 1945 and 1948, mostly in the Soviet zone. An abortion cost around 1,000 marks and was performed without anaesthesia. 6000 Berlin women died each year in the Soviet zone from resulting complications. [11]

On 6 June 1971, the cover of the West German magazine Stern ran with the headline "We've had abortions!" (German: Wir haben abgetrieben!), and featured the pictures of 30 women who had done so. [12] 374 women, some, but not all, of whom had a high public profile, publicly confessed that they had had pregnancies terminated, which at that time was illegal. They challenged §218 and asserted their right to abortion. [13] In the years following publication, several of the participants admitted they had not actually had an abortion, including Alice Schwarzer, who stated that it was irrelevant, because "we would have done it if we'd had an unwanted pregnancy." [14]

East Germany legalized elective abortion until 12 weeks of pregnancy in 1972, in the Volkskammer's only non-unanimous vote ever in the first 40 years of its existence. After West Germany followed suit in 1974, its new law was struck down in 1975 by the Constitutional Court as inconsistent with the human rights guarantee of the constitution. It held that the unborn has a right to life, that abortion is an act of killing, and that the fetus deserves legal protection throughout its development.[ citation needed ] Nevertheless, the legal opinion strongly hinted that increasing the number of situations in which abortion was legal might be constitutional.[ citation needed ]

In East Germany, female Vertragsarbeiter (foreign workers) were not allowed to become pregnant during their stay. If they did, they were forced to have an abortion [15] [16] or faced deportation.

In 1976, West Germany revised abortion law. According to the new modifications to §218, penalties for abortions are not enforced on doctors and patients when several conditions are met: terminations must be no later than twelve weeks of pregnancy –or must be performed for reasons of medical necessity, sexual crimes, or serious social or emotional distress –if approved by two doctors, and subject to counseling and a three-day waiting period. In 1989, a Bavarian doctor was sentenced to two and a half years in prison, and 137 of his patients were fined for failing to meet the certification requirements.[ citation needed ]

The two laws had to be reconciled after reunification. A new law was passed by the Bundestag in 1992, permitting first-trimester elective abortion, subject to counseling and a three-day waiting period, and permitting late-term abortions when the physical or psychological health of the woman is seriously threatened. The law was quickly challenged in court by a number of individuals –including Chancellor Helmut Kohl  –and by the State of Bavaria. The Constitutional Court decided a year later to maintain its earlier decision that the constitution protected the fetus from the moment of conception, but stated that it is within the discretion of parliament not to punish abortion in the first trimester,[ citation needed ] provided that the woman had submitted to state-regulated counseling intended to discourage termination and protect fetal life. Parliament passed such a law in 1995.[ citation needed ] Abortions are covered by public health insurance if the pregnancy was caused by sexual abuse, such as rape, or if the mother's health is seriously endangered by the pregnancy. For women with low income, the state governments pay for an abortion. [17]

In 2022, the Olaf Scholz coalition of social democrats, greens, and liberals, repealed paragraph 219a, together with votes from The Left. [18] This allowed medical professionals to state on their websites what kinds of abortion procedures they offer. [19]

References

  1. ↑ "Strafgesetzbuch (StGB) §§218-219". Strafgesetzbuch (in German). Retrieved 30 September 2019– via buzer.de.
  2. 1 2 "German Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch – StGB)". gesetze-im-internet.de. Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection . Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  3. ↑ Zusammenstellung Schwangerschaftsabbrüche in Deutschland. Statistisches Bundesamt; abgerufen am 6. July 2023
  4. ↑ "Abortion numbers in Germany 1996-2020". statista.com. Retrieved 8 May 2025.
  5. ↑ "Abortion rate in Europe 2018". Statista. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  6. ↑ Henry P. David, Jochen Fleischhacker and Charlotte Hohn (March 1988). "Abortion and Eugenics in Nazi Germany". Population and Development Review. 14 (1): 81–112. doi:10.2307/1972501. JSTOR   1972501. PMID   11655915.
  7. ↑ Ferree, Myra Marx (2002). Shaping abortion discourse: democracy and the public sphere in Germany and the United States. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   9780521793841.
  8. ↑ Grossmann, Atina (1997). Reforming Sex: The German Movement for Birth Control and Abortion Reform, 1920–1950. Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780195363517.
  9. ↑ Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals under Control Council Law No. 10 (Volume 4). 1947. pp. 609–610.
  10. ↑ Tuomala, Jeffrey (1 January 2011). "Nuremberg and the Crime of Abortion" (PDF). University of Toledo Law Review. 42: 283.
  11. ↑ Richie, Alexandra (1998). Faust's Metropolis . New York: Carroll & Graf. p.  617. ISBN   0-7867-0510-8.
  12. ↑ "Stern 6 June 1971 (the cover)". Archived from the original on 10 June 2007. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  13. ↑ Grossbölting, Thomas (2013). Der verlorene Himmel: Glaube in Deutschland seit 1945. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. ISBN   978-3-525-30040-4.
  14. ↑ Kramm, Jutta (6 June 2001). "Zwei Leben" [Two Lives]. Berliner Zeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 8 May 2025. Schwarzer selbst bestätigt, dass sie - 'wie einige wenige' - nicht abgetrieben hatte. 'Aber das spielte keine Rolle', sagt sie, 'wir hätten es getan, wenn wir ungewollt schwanger geworden wären. Das Selbstbekenntnis war kein moralischer, sondern ein politischer Akt.'[Schwarzer herself confirms that she - 'like a few others' - did not have an abortion. 'But that didn't matter,' she says, 'we would have done it if we'd had an unwanted pregnancy. Self-confession was not a moral act, but a political one.']
  15. ↑ Weiss, Karin (2011). "Die Einbindung ehemaliger vietnamesischer Vertragsarbeiterinnen und Vertragsarbeiter in Strukturen der Selbstorganisation". In Zwengel, Almut (ed.). Die Gastarbeiter der DDR - politischer Kontext und Lebenswelt. Studien zur DDR Gesellschaft. Vol. XIII. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 264. ISBN   978-3-643-10640-7.
  16. ↑ Pfohl, Manuela (1 October 2008). "Vietnamesen in Deutschland: Phuongs Traum". Stern . Retrieved 18 October 2008.
  17. ↑ "Schwangerschaftsabbruch". AOK. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  18. ↑ Hausding, Götz (24 June 2022). "Deutscher Bundestag - Werbeverbot für Schwangerschaftsabbrüche gestrichen". Deutscher Bundestag (in German). Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  19. ↑ "Paragraf 219a ist endlich aufgehoben". Bundestagsfraktion Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (in German). 19 July 2022. Retrieved 13 November 2022.

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