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"My body, my decision" is written on a banner during a demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin
Photo: Paul Zinken / dpa
In Germany it is becoming more and more difficult in some places to find a doctor for an abortion: According to the Federal Statistical Office, the number of clinics and medical practices that offer abortions has almost halved in the past 20 years.
Many physicians who terminate the program are already in retirement age and there are no successors in sight.
This deficiency worsened again during the corona pandemic: Doctors who performed abortions often belonged to the risk group.
The Greens are now campaigning for a sustainable improvement in what is on offer.
In a position paper that is available to SPIEGEL, they call for "nationwide security of supply in the event of an abortion".
The parliamentary group has just adopted the paper - and is thus once again positioning itself clearly on the reproductive rights of women in the election year.
It is a position that is quite contrary to the attitude of the Greens' fiercest competitor, according to surveys.
For the Union, the issue of abortion is always about how the "protection of unborn life" can be preserved.
Even among avowed feminists of the party, the topic is a taboo.
For the Greens, on the other hand, termination of pregnancy is a question of self-determination that is criminalized by the penal code.
"For us Greens it is clear that the self-determination of women and people of childbearing potential must be at the center of any regulation of abortions," said the women's political spokeswoman for the Greens, Ulle Schauws, to SPIEGEL.
"With this paper, we as a parliamentary group are closing a gap: we are creating a clear position on abortion."
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Ulle Schauws, women's political spokeswoman for the Green parliamentary group in the Bundestag
Photo: Erik Marquardt
In Germany, Section 218 of the Criminal Code regulates that abortions are prohibited, but are exempt from punishment under certain circumstances.
The associated stigmatization is a burden for many unwanted pregnant women and represents considerable difficulties for doctors, say the Greens.
"The criminal law regulations on the termination of pregnancy have a strong impact on the supply situation," it says in the paper.
The Greens therefore reject the »fundamental criminalization of women and people of childbearing potential who need an abortion«.
The Greens' demands in detail:
In order to ensure better care, the federal government should collect data on how many doctors or facilities are needed in Germany to carry out the terminations.
The federal states should then be obliged to ensure that there is an adequate supply.
This obligation is to be enshrined in law through an expressly formulated supply mandate in the Pregnancy Conflict Act.
The previous formulation of the law, according to which the federal states should ensure a sufficient supply of advice centers and facilities for abortion, is too vague for the Greens.
In addition, the Greens want women to no longer have to pay for abortions.
Contraceptives should also be given free of charge.
In the long term, the parliamentary group wants to abolish paragraph 218 in the penal code.
She also wants to campaign for the deletion of paragraph 219a, the so-called ban on advertising for abortions in the penal code.
This is intended to facilitate access to information.
The increasing controversy over Paragraph 219a has created a new awareness of the restrictions on women's self-determination, especially among young people, it is said.
Mainly due to the resistance of the Giessen doctor Kristina Hänel, there had been a public discussion of the topic in recent years.
The regulation prohibits, among other things, the public "offering" or "promoting" abortions "because of their financial advantage" or in a "grossly offensive manner".
After the reform, the law now allows doctors to publicly inform them that they are performing abortions.
For further information, however, you must refer to other places.
That is not enough for the Greens.
Pregnant women who want or need an abortion must have the best medical care available, said the women's policy spokeswoman Schauws.
"That also means that they have to be able to decide for themselves about the conditions for an abortion - which method of termination, local anesthesia or anesthesia, advice."
