F_Streik Speech for the Safe Abortion Day ’24
Patronizing mandatory counseling, enforced 3-day waiting periods, a shrinking number of doctors who perform abortions, insufficient focus on abortion in medical training, no coverage by health insurance—the list of issues surrounding abortion is long. And they are all the result of the current regulation of abortion in Paragraph 218 of the Criminal Code!
This paragraph has existed for 153 years, and for just as long, people have been fighting against it. But right now, we have the best chance of getting rid of it since the reunification of Germany. The government set up a commission of experts to examine possible regulations for abortion outside the Criminal Code. This commission presented its findings in April, stating clearly that abortions must be legal at least within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
And how does the government respond to the findings of the commission it appointed? After months of silence, the SPD finally managed to pull together a position paper stating they want to abolish Section 218—but there is still no draft bill. The green party have expressed their support, but no clear action or first steps toward decriminalization have been taken. Meanwhile, the FDP warns of societal division if the so-called “compromise” of the current regulation is touched. But what kind of compromise forces doctors to operate under criminal law when they want to help their patients? A compromise that denies people with unwanted pregnancies the right to independently decide about their own bodies and futures? That mandates counseling which, and I quote from the law, “serves to protect the unborn life”? What kind of compromise is that supposed to be?!
That’s why we say: Abortion must legally and practically become part of basic medical care.
We demand:
- The abolition of Paragraph 218 of the Criminal Code, as well as all other sections and laws that are based on it.
- An improvement in medical care: We need more clinics and practices that perform abortions. Every pregnant person should have local access to abortion and be able to freely choose the method. Public hospitals must be required to offer this service and should not have the right to refuse.
- Mandatory training, continuing education, and specialization for doctors, especially gynecologists, and medical staff in the field of abortion.
- The right to counseling, instead of paternalistic mandatory counseling.
- The three-day waiting period must be abolished.
- Abortion costs must be covered by health insurance, just like any other medical procedure.
- And we demand trust in people with unwanted pregnancies to make the right decision for themselves and their bodies.
For true freedom of choice, it must also be ensured that, regardless of socio-economic circumstances, one can choose to continue a pregnancy and live with a child. Therefore, we demand strong financial support for low-income parents, especially single parents, an expansion of daycare options, and the socialization of care work. We need more safe spaces for WLINTA (women, lesbians, intersex, non-binary, trans, and agender people) and their children, expanded inclusion measures, and more state support for people with disabilities and their families. Whether we have children or not—we decide that alone!
