Calls on Germany to legalise abortions in first trimester
By Damien McGuinness
A government-appointed expert commission has called on Germany to legalise the termination of a pregnancy within the first 12 weeks.
It might come as a surprise to many, but abortions are, in fact, generally illegal in the Western European nation.
There are, however, exemptions.
For instance, a woman is not punished for choosing to terminate a pregnancy within the first 12 weeks if she has an official medical consultation beforehand.
Other exemptions include cases of rape or when the woman’s life is in danger.
In other words, while abortions are in theory illegal, they are generally not prosecuted.
In some cases, charges are pressed against doctors or clinics and women are sometimes questioned by police, which can be traumatic.
The result of this legal limbo is that some clinics and doctors either don’t publicise the service on their websites, or refuse to carry out abortions at all out of fear of prosecution. Some women report that provision of terminations can be patchy or hard to find, particularly in rural areas.
