Self-determination or legal regulation? Feminist positions on abortion and Section 218
Channel: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung
Date: 2018-09-06

There was a moment to decriminalise abortion in the wake of the sensational verdict against the physician Kristina Hänel in November 2017. The abolition of the "ban on advertising services" for abortions laid down in Section 219a of the German Criminal Code was imminent. However, the CDU/CSU parties then intervened strongly in favour of the existing criminalisation and the SPD caved in.

Women's self-determination* is regarded as a basic consensus in feminist struggles and the emphasis on abolishing Section 218 on abortion has been a central political strategy for decades. However, this strategy needs to be reconsidered anew in feminist alliances, seeing that we are now almost one year after the Hänel ruling and politics has achieved neither a reform nor abolition of Section 219. The discussions and reports in recent months have shown that Section 218 continues to be a taboo subject and that the decriminalisation of abortions cannot really be achieved in this way. At the moment, a wide-ranging feminist platform for the abolition of Section 218 is not possible. However, the topic remains a burning issue for many civil society stakeholders* and alliances, and demands for the complete abolition of Section 218 are becoming louder.

In the run-up to the appeal hearing on 6 September 2018 against Kristina Hänel, a doctor convicted in first instance under Section 219a, we want to focus on the decriminalisation of abortions through the abolition of Section 218 and discuss how the various feminist approaches relate to this. What divides us, what unites us? What is the core of the dissent – and how can this be overcome?

With:

Dr. Antje Schrupp Journalist and blogger, author
Gesine Agena (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen,Deputy Chairwoman and Spokesperson for Women´s Affairs)
Prof. Daphne Hahn (ProFamilia, Berlin)
Adriana Lamacková (Center for Reproductive Rights)
Moderation: Peggy Piesche (Speaker, Gunda-Werner-Institut)
*requested