Germany pushes to completely remove abortion from criminal law...opposition resistance

After the collapse of Germany's "signal-light" coalition government, progressive parties remaining in the coalition are pushing to remove abortion from the criminal law altogether.

The German daily Tagessspiegel reported yesterday (14th) that a bill was submitted to Parliament to remove a criminal law provision requiring abortion to be punished within 12 weeks of pregnancy.

The motion involved 236 lawmakers, including the ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens, and the left-wing party, which the centrist conservative opposition party, which is likely to take power after an early general election in February next year, strongly protested.

The current criminal law requires doctors who commit abortions to be imprisoned or fined for up to three years, and pregnant women to be imprisoned or fined for up to one year.

However, it is virtually decriminalized due to a wide range of exceptions, such as no punishment for abortion after consultation at a designated institution within 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Members of the SPD and Green Party argued that even if an abortion is performed without counseling, only doctors should be punished and the abortion issue should be managed under the Pregnancy Conflict Prevention Management Act, which stipulates counseling procedures.

But Friedrich Merz, the leader of the main opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said he was surprised Mr. Scholz, who always speaks of solidarity and cooperation, signed the motion, saying it was a matter of splitting the country in two and causing unnecessary conflict.