German lawmakers have repealed a Nazi-era law that prohibited medical workers from giving information about abortions.
Lawmakers in Germany today, Friday, June 24, voted to repeal a controversial abortion law that had been in place since 1933. Under the terms of this Nazi-era legislation, doctors, and medical workers in general, had Prohibited from providing abortion information to potential patients.
The Bundestag voted by majority decision to end this nearly 90-year-old law. Many medical workers had previously been fined, or even imprisoned, after breaking this law, when they were deemed to have provided abortion information.
Kristina Hanel, a well-known doctor, had recently been fined €6,000 for mentioning on her website that she performed abortions. Today’s action means that all pending convictions against the doctors, dating back to 1990, were also overturned.
marco bushman the German Justice Minister, had suggested to lawmakers that it was finally time to abolish what was an ‘absurd and obsolete’ law.
In 2019, Angela Merkel, then German chancellor, had reached a compromise agreement that allowed hospitals and doctors to advertise the fact that they performed abortions. However, no further details about that deal have been released.
Today’s action was initiated by Olaf Schulz last November when he became chancellor. After the decision, Lisa Paus, Minister for Families of Germany tweeted his joy at the decision and said that now was the time to start discussing the decriminalization of abortion in the country.
Currently, once a pregnant woman has received the mandatory counseling, she can have a termination up to 12 weeks into her pregnancy. The only other cases are when the life of the mother is in danger or when a pregnancy arises as a result of rape.