[ad_1]
Germany repeals article banning abortion advertising. Thanks to today’s decision in the Bundestag, doctors convicted in the last 32 years are also being rehabilitated.
“Our services also include medical abortions in a protected environment, a sentence that will no longer constitute a criminal offense in Germany, thanks to a decision taken by the German Bundestag on Friday: To remove Article 219a from the criminal code.
Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann from the FDP called the removal delayed. “Any sentence under Article 219a of the criminal code is ‘an excessive sentence,'” Buschmann said. He explained that when a woman deals with the difficult issue of a possible abortion, she “usually” first seeks information online. And “any troll and any conspiracy theorist can spread information on this subject – while doctors with university degrees are not allowed. “It is absurd, it is outdated, it is unfair and that is why we are ending this situation.”
A historic decision
Article 219a of the criminal code has existed since the time of Nazism. It punishes anyone who “offers, displays, publicly advertises means, tools or procedures or publishes explanations with such content for termination of pregnancy”. As a result, many women, who for health reasons also wanted to be informed online by doctors about termination of pregnancy, did not find information.
Three years ago, the abortion law underwent a reform. He allowed doctors to have information on their abortion sites, but without giving details about the method of abortion. The abolition of this article was a promise expressed in the agreement of the coalition parties. In the Bundestag to vote not only deputies of the ruling parties, social democrats, environmentalists and liberals, but also the left. The Conservatives, the Christian Democrats and the Christian Social Union (CDU / CSU) and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) opposed.
Rehabilitation for convicted doctors
Prof. Dr. Günter Krings from the CDU / CSU parliamentary group calls the removal of the article from the Criminal Code wrong. He argues with a decision previously taken by the Constitutional Court, according to which “the protection of the unborn life must be preserved in public consciousness.” Krings said that “the unborn child possesses human dignity from the beginning. Advertising is contrary to this obligation. “Whoever allows advertising tolerates abortions to be interpreted and perceived as normal medical services.”
Dr. Kristina Hänel went to the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe and organized a petition for the abolition of Article 219a
The decision, to which Krings refers, was made as a result of an appeal filed by doctor Kristina Hänel, who had previously been convicted of having described abortion methods on her website. Hänel is just one of hundreds of doctors convicted under Article 219a. The law now passed by the German parliament has rehabilitated all convicts since 1990. A victory for Hänel, who had initiated a petition to change the law after failing to succeed in the Constitutional Court. Following the ruling, she wrote on Twitter: A great feeling! Article 219a has already become history. Finally we can exercise all our professional obligations to clarify. Affected women can finally find serious information online.
Still far from legalizing abortion
Even after this decision, abortions in Germany are officially banned and considered a criminal offense. They can be sentenced to up to three years in prison. Exceptions are cases when the pregnancy poses a health risk to the woman or when it has occurred as a result of a rape. Another case where termination of pregnancy is allowed is when it is done before the 12th week, but provided that the woman has previously made a compulsory counseling.
For women who have become pregnant against their will and want to have an abortion, the road remains difficult. Such counseling is offered by a large number of organizations, but it can take weeks before you can get a counseling schedule. For many women it may be too late. Women’s rights organizations now want to make abortion possible without the need for counseling.
Abortion in Germany remains illegal. Women’s rights associations demand the legalization of abortion and women’s right to self-determination
Emilia Fester, a Green MP and the youngest (24-year-old) member of the Bundestag, warned on Twitter that her struggle for women’s self-determination for pregnancy continues:
“Today we have written feminist stories. We removed paragraph 219a of the criminal code. Women who inadvertently become pregnant have the right to receive qualified information. A step that should have been taken a long time ago and is now a reality. Today we will celebrate and tomorrow we will overturn Article 218!“
Article 218 is the article that considers abortion illegal. During her speech in the Bundestag, Federal Family Minister Lisa Paus (Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen) called for a debate on legalizing abortion. The government will set up a commission for this purpose. Among other things, the government intends to make abortion a subject in the study of medicine./DW
top channel
[ad_2]
Source link