The abortion laws in Poland and Germany could see significant changes as lawmakers consider plans to dismantle the existing restrictions, which according to women’s advocate groups, contribute to ostracisation and, in certain contexts, an absolute prohibition.
Amendments have been proposed by a governmental committee in Germany to allow termination of pregnancy until the twelfth week by revising the current legislation criminalising abortion, which carries a sentence of up to three years imprisonment. In reality, despite the existing law, abortion is fairly unhampered and convictions are sparse in Germany, with the procedure generally accessible to women within the first twelve weeks of pregnancy, provided they undergo a consultation and undergo a three-day waiting period prior to seeing a physician.
A record shows an augmentation of almost 10 per cent in the number registered abortions in 2022, totalling at around 104,000. Interestingly, this is still a significantly lower figure compared to that of 2003, which has reportedly been halved.
Prof Daphne Hahn, who is part of the 18-member committee recommending the decriminalisation of abortion, states that one way to end the associated stigma is through the route of decriminalisation. She suggests eliminating preconditions, legalising abortion entirely and ensuring its removal from the criminal justice framework, a notion that’s stood for 153 years.
The primary rationale for the commission’s proposed modifications is to reevaluate the respective importance of the unborn child and pregnant woman’s concerns correspondingly to the stage of pregnancy. The committee’s report suggests that only from around the 22nd week of pregnancy, when the fetus can survive outside the womb, should its life be prioritised over the woman’s request to terminate her pregnancy.
Yet, it is uncertain whether these recommendations will be accepted by the ruling coalition in Berlin. The Social Democratic Party and Greens pledged such reforms in their manifestos for the 2021 elections. Notably, senior SPD Bundestag politician, Katja Mast, emphasised that women in complex circumstances seeking abortions should not be persecuted within the judicial framework.
Nevertheless, hesitation still exists within the coalition. The Free Democratic Party seeks further discussion with specialists prior to implementing reform. Moreover, the Christian Democratic Union, the key opposition party, has threatened to instigate legal proceedings if the current standing – regarded as a societal consensus on a heated issue – is altered.
Catholic groups are vocally opposing the potential changes, with one civil group asserting that these measures would leave the unborn entirely helpless in the initial twelve weeks.
Meanwhile, within neighbouring Poland, momentum is building to revisit the severe abortion restrictions. Proposals for law reform by the administration of Donald Tusk are currently under discussion within a parliamentary committee.
In the past three decades, Poland’s liberal abortion laws, dating back to the socialist era, have been limited twice. A constitutional adjustment in 1993 made it legal to terminate a pregnancy under three conditions: if the mother’s health or life was at risk, if the pregnancy resulted from a criminal act like rape, or if there was a severe foetal abnormality.
However, in 2021, under the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party, the last provision was declared illegal. The PiS leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, termed this move as a stance against ‘eugenic abortions’.
Six years after abortion was legalised in Ireland, expectant women are still obliged to seek terminations abroad. Meanwhile, Kaczynski, along with ex-PiS prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki, now in the opposition, view their 2021 near-complete abortion ban as ‘an error’. They are advocating for a return to the 1993 settlement to avoid any possible extremes in the opposite direction amid ongoing abortion reforms.