Why is the abortion debate getting sharper again?
What is going on and why is the protest of the abortion opponents more massive? An interview with Ulrike Busch, Germany's first professor of family planning.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: At the end of November, the general practitioner Kristina Hänel was sentenced to a fine of 6,000 euros for offering abortions and informing her on her homepage. Since then, the abortion debate in Germany is picking up again. Why do the emotions boil up so fast on this topic ??
Ulrike Busch: Because abortion is still a taboo, sanctioned morally and legally. In Germany, an abortion is a crime against life, it is in the criminal code - for offenses such as murder or manslaughter.
But there are clear guidelines; Abortion is legal within the twelve-week period. Does the legal side really play such a role in the perception of women today?
The offense can increase the sense of doing something socially disapproving. There's something to be said with one thing: what I do is not legal, even if I'm punishable.
The abortion opponents also seem very active again, otherwise Hänel would not have been displayed.
They are never really silent - not even after the 1995 law reform, a compromise that was preceded by hard discussions even then. But it's true: The protest is becoming more massive. In Berlin there are more and more demonstrating against abortion during the "march for life". Also, the number of ads against female doctors is increasing.
Why??
The spectrum of abortion opponents is broader today. In addition to those who argue with their Christian faith as they did then, there are now many who belong to the so-called New Right. The AfD takes the issue explicitly, partly with Christian arguments, partly by pointing to the need for a higher birth rate, and makes political pressure. Others are unsure that, for example, medical advances make it easy to see how far eight-week-old embryos have evolved, and how worthy of protection they are. Abortion opponents are linked to these moral concerns.
Not only in Germany.?
Yes, the influence of so-called anti-choice movements is increasing worldwide, also because they are closely networked with politics. There is an open abortion opponent in the US with Donald Trump. In El Salvador, women who have had a miscarriage are imprisoned for imputed abortion. In Europe, too, there are threats of tightening, for example in Poland.
The influence of anti-choice movements is increasing worldwide.
Have there ever been epochs where abortions were tolerated and women naturally decided on their own?
In fact, abortion was largely tolerated for a long time, for example in Greek antiquity. It used crushing or laxative or impregnated with sharp substances tampons. But it was a patriarchal world, the decision-making power was not the wife, but the master of the house.?
Did that change with Christianity?
Christianity has redefined the right of disposal over life: God gives and takes life. Abortions were now severely punished, but were still a reality. The women were excommunicated, single mothers were socially outlawed, and the death penalty was imposed on child killing. Today's debate about the self-determination of women in the issue of abortion is very young, it began 100 years ago with the emergence of a women's movement.
Even now, many women again go for their right to self-determination on the streets - despite or because of the anti-choice movements. A petition for the right to information on abortion has signed around 150,000.
Yes, and these women do not act in a vacuum. After all, there is the internationally recognized right to reproductive health, which the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights reaffirmed two years ago. While such statements are not binding, they do provide meaningful guidance. Before the Hänel trial, many young women did not feel they had to fight back, that's different now. We are in the middle of a debate that was long overdue, and we should not look at it in isolation. Sexual criminal law was tightened in Germany in 2017, since then, "No means no", in the debate on #Metoo is discussed on harassment and abuse of women. It is always about the question: how do we see women?
How do you rate the development?
The right to information and free choice in personal life issues is a fundamental right, for me it includes the termination of an unwanted pregnancy. Paragraph 219a, on the basis of which Kristina Hänel was convicted, patronizes women and doctors, so it should be deleted. Also because abortion opponents use it as a lever to unsettle female doctors.In some places, for example in parts of Bavaria, the number of doctors who perform abortions is already falling. The ban on advertising set forth in 219a also means that the woman largely relies on the information that her advice center calls her.
Are not they enough?
No. They are based on what doctors pass on to the counseling center or on active research by the counselors. However, some counseling centers do not get any information, they even call the women medical doctors, others simply do not know them. This torpedoes the right to a quick and free choice of doctor in this special situation.
Ulrike Busch, Born in 1952, is Professor of Family Planning at Merseburg University of Applied Sciences. She studied philosophy, worked as a consultant at Pro Familia and was co-founder and managing director of the Family Planning Center Berlin e. V. Her research interests are social science aspects of family planning, sexual education and sexual counseling.
