The "advertising" restriction on abortions that was included in Paragraph 219a has been removed by the Bundestag. Because of this, some doctors have been forced to take their cases to court.
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| [Abortion advertising restrictions were lifted by the Bundestag] |
On Friday, members of the Bundestag came to the conclusion that the so-called advertising restriction for abortions should be lifted. The left faction, the coalition factions SPD, Greens, and FDP, and the right faction all voted in favour of the deletion of penal law paragraph 219a. The parties Union and AfD voted against the deletion. The clause made it illegal for medical practitioners and clinics to provide full information about the various ways of terminating an unwanted pregnancy.
In the coalition agreement, the traffic light parties had reached a consensus on the last sentence of the paragraph. Without the risk of facing legal repercussions, medical professionals need to be free to tell patients and the general public about abortions. According to what it states, "we are thus removing Section 219a of the Criminal Code." A commitment to including abortion into medical education and training, as well as "reliable health care," is shared by the Social Democrats, Greens, and Free Democrats.
The actual prohibition on abortion can be found in the adjacent paragraph 218 of the penal code. The controversy surrounding this paragraph first surfaced in 2017, when a doctor in Giessen named Kristina Hanel defended herself in court against a penalty order for disclosing on her website that she provided abortion services. The order was based on the fact that Hanel had disclosed that she provided abortion services.
She was followed by coworkers who were also impacted by the prohibition; some of them had already been forced to accept multiple penalties when abortion opponents, who regard themselves as lifeguards, reported them for breaking section 219a. She was the first to face repercussions from the law.
The day before the meeting that would decide her future, Kristina Hanel felt a sense of relief. In a statement, she said, "If the government draught is approved, a major step toward freedom of information for individuals impacted by abortion will be taken." "I am delighted that the indefensible passage, which was responsible for a great deal of mayhem, will be relegated to the annals of history."
He made it possible for serious information to be banned under the misnomer of "advertising," while allowing "any unqualified and misleading statements by non-professionals" to be allowed. Anti-abortion activists made extensive use of this loophole to make life even more difficult for the women who were affected.
At the same time, Hanel issued a warning that the other promises made by the traffic light should be fulfilled. He stated, "Deficits in training, research, and teaching must be made good; Counseling centres and implementing institutions must be protected from so-called "sidewalk harassment," as well as from intimidation, threats, and inadmissible Holocaust comparisons; the supply of outpatient and inpatient care must be ensured; coverage of the costs of prevention and abortion treatment if prev The traffic light She was seated in the visitors' gallery of the Bundestag and observed the argument there.
The coalition agreement does not include any remarks on main paragraph 218, which has been the subject of debate for more than a century and a half. Medical organisations such as "Doctors for Choice" are renewing their calls for the practice's prohibition in recent years. During the spring, Leonie Kühn, a gynaecologist and one of the co-founders of the group, said in an interview with the Tagesspiegel that the 219a was only "part of an issue that goes far deeper." It is about making all abortions a criminal offence in their entirety.
Because of this, abortions become socially unacceptable and are stigmatised, not just in society but also in medical education; after all, who would want to teach something that is illegal? It is "shocked for undesired pregnant women that their desire for an abortion is considered to be illegal," which is another thing that is startling.