The doctor Kristina Hänel has been sentenced to a fine for violating the controversial Abortion Paragraph 219a in the renewed appeal process. The district court Gießen set in his sentence 25 daily rates of 100 €. Thus, the penalty was lower than in the previous instance.
The court found it proven that the physician had made punishable with information that she had made available to patients on her website. The clause prohibits advertising for abortions.
Hänel and her defender had previously said that they considered the paragraph in its amended form unconstitutional. It violates the freedom of occupation and expression and restricts the fundamental right of the women concerned to freedom of information. The doctor wants to appeal revision.
Hänel was sentenced in first instance by the district court Gießen in 2017 to a fine of 6,000 euros. The appeal process had to be reopened after a decision of the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt because of the changed legal situation.
Paragraph 219a had been changed in March after a nationwide debate triggered by the Hänel case. Added to this was a paragraph, according to which doctors or clinics can inform publicly that they perform abortions. Even in this form, the paragraph is controversial. In the trial against Hänel, the court criticized the fact that the reformed law was contradictory. Information about abortions is allowed, but information about the methods is not.