In Brief: Berlin court fines gynecologist for improper ‘advertising’ of services under Germany’s amended abortion law

In Brief: Berlin court fines gynecologist for improper ‘advertising’ of services under Germany’s amended abortion law
The conviction of Berlin gynecologist Dr. Bettina Gaber comes after part of Germany’s law on abortion was altered in
February.

December 4, 2019
By Sylvia Cunningham

Dr. Bettina Gaber must now pay a fine of 2,000 euros for stating on her practice’s website that “a medicinal, anesthesia-free abortion in a protected atmosphere is also one of our services.”

This conviction comes after part of Germany’s law on abortion was altered in February. The revised paragraph 219a says doctors can state that they perform abortions but provide no further information. Instead they can direct patients to resources maintained by the German Medical Association.

Continued: https://kcrwberlin.com/2019/12/in-brief-berlin-court-fines-gynaecologist-for-improper-advertising-of-services-under-amended-abortion-law/

04.12.2019

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Dr Bettina Gaber

German Medical Association

Paragraph 219a German criminal code

Germany – The Growing Fight Against Nazi-Era Abortion Limits

The Growing Fight Against Nazi-Era Abortion Limits
Her case exposed Germany's abortion laws for a new generation — and she's not stopping there.

By Fiona Zublin
Nov 8 2019

In 2017, Kristina Hänel — a wiry German doctor with kind eyes and a cool outdoorsy aunt vibe — became a cause. She’s a doctor who offers abortion services, and she, as others had been before her, was fined $6,700 (€6,000) for “advertising” the procedure on her website.

What sets her apart is the fight. Her ongoing battle against that fine, expected to go all the way to the European Court of Human Rights, has sparked a new interest in abortion rights among Germany’s younger generation. Hänel might seem an unlikely ringleader: The 63-year-old grandmother of five, who plays the accordion and rides horses in her spare time, spent her life focused on medicine, not activism. But performing abortions, particularly in modern Germany, is activism — and Hänel is the reason many people now know that.

Continued: https://www.ozy.com/provocateurs/this-sexagenarian-doctor-is-inspiring-germanys-modern-abortion-rights-movement/229052/

Activists in Germany demand legalization of abortion

Activists in Germany demand legalization of abortion
Abortion in Germany, while pratically possible for most women, technically remains a criminal offence in all cases. Opponents of the laws want a full legalization, but that alone won't improve access, some activists say.

27.09.2019
Clara Suchy

There, in the German Criminal Code, between the laws on murder and abandonment, sit paragraphs 218 and 219. They pertain to — and criminalize — abortion in Germany. On Saturday, activists will be taking to the streets to demand the paragraphs' removal as part of a global abortion rights demonstration.

Sarah Thibol, activist with the feminist organization Frauen*Kollektiv in Cologne, is one of many planning to protest. Her personal goal is "that women realize abortions are not legal in German. So many people are surprised the first time they hear that."

Continued: https://www.dw.com/en/activists-in-germany-demand-legalization-of-abortion/a-50613936

Europe’s patchwork of abortion laws is absurd. Rights must be made universal

Europe’s patchwork of abortion laws is absurd. Rights must be made universal

By Brinkwire on July 24, 2019

When I was 30, in 2011, I had an abortion. I was living in Berlin, a city known, since the fall of the Wall, for championing freedom. Or at least it was until attention turned to my womb. Born in France in the 1980s, and brought up on the internet, the Erasmus European studies programme and love without borders, I was under the happy illusion that everything relating to women’s bodies – from abortion to assisted reproduction – was covered by rights secured after long, hard struggles.

I blithely assumed that the milestones on the road to liberating French women – the May 1968 uprising, the 1971 “Manifesto of the 343” signed by women admitting to having had an abortion, Simone Veil, the health minister who legalised abortion, and the first test-tube babies – were all sufficiently European to be taken for granted, whatever the language.

Continued: https://en.brinkwire.com/canada/europes-patchwork-of-abortion-laws-is-absurd-rights-must-be-made-universal/

24.07.2019

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Paragraph 219a German criminal code

German doctor fined for advertising abortion under law that goes back to Hitler’s Reich

German doctor fined for advertising abortion under law that goes back to Hitler’s Reich

Kristina Völk and Peter Conradi, Giessen
July 14 2019
The Sunday Times

Tucked away in a nondescript modern building between a mobile phone shop and a branch of McDonald’s, Kristina Hänel’s surgery seems at first glance typical of countless GP practices across Germany. The plate outside the door gives only her name, followed by “Specialist in general medicine”.

Yet Hänel, 62, from Giessen, a university town north of Frankfurt, is at the forefront of a protracted battle being waged in Germany’s courts, media and parliament to change restrictive abortion laws that date back to the Nazi era.

Continued: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/world/german-doctor-fined-for-advertising-abortion-under-law-that-goes-back-to-hitlers-reich-m6kpxc3vv

German court overturns abortion advertising conviction

German court overturns abortion advertising conviction

July 3, 2019

BERLIN (AP) — A German court has overturned a doctor’s conviction for advertising abortions after the government loosened rules on the issue.

Kristina Haenel was fined 6,000 euros ($6,775) in 2017 by a court in Giessen after stating on her website that she carried out abortions. That violated a German law that bans “advertising” the procedure, and which carries a fine or a prison sentence of up to two years.

A higher court in Frankfurt said Wednesday it overturned the conviction and ordered a retrial. The ruling followed a compromise reached by Germany’s governing coalition earlier this year. Under the deal, the ban formally remains but doctors and hospitals are allowed to say on their websites they perform abortions, without giving more detailed information.

Source: https://www.apnews.com/a927ebbdabec478da544a7ac715c37b6

03.07.2019

Paragraph 219a German criminal code

German doctors convicted over abortion law

German doctors convicted over abortion law
The doctors were found to have broken a regulation that forbids describing how an abortion is performed. Campaigners have argued that lack of access to information is a health and rights issue.

Date 14.06.2019

Two Berlin gynecologists were fined €2,000 euros ($2,250) on Friday for violating Germany's controversial Paragraph 219a law, which forbids doctors from "advertising" that they perform abortions. The doctors had been facing penalties of up to €7,500 euros.

Despite a recent reform of the law that gave doctors the right to state on their websites that they offer the service, the law still forbids them from describing how they perform the procedure. "The situation is simple," said presiding Judge Christine Mathiak.

Continued: https://www.dw.com/en/german-doctors-convicted-over-abortion-law/a-49208908

14.06.2019

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Judge Christine Mathiak

Paragraph 219a German criminal code

prosecuting doctors for advertising abortion

German court fines two doctors over abortion ‘advertising’

German court fines two doctors over abortion 'advertising'

Date created : 14/06/2019
Berlin (AFP)

A German court Friday fined two gynaecologists for offering information online about their abortion services, rekindling an emotional row over a Nazi-era law banning practitioners from advertising pregnancy terminations.

German law allows abortions but effectively discourages them through various hurdles, including the law in question, Article 219a, which dates to May 1933, shortly after Adolf Hitler took power.

Continued: https://www.france24.com/en/20190614-german-court-fines-two-doctors-over-abortion-advertising-0

German Cabinet backs compromise in abortion dispute

German Cabinet backs compromise in abortion dispute

By Associated Press
February 6

BERLIN — Germany’s Cabinet on Wednesday approved legislation that would loosen, but not scrap, a ban on doctors “advertising” abortions, in an attempt to bridge a divide between the country’s governing parties.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s junior governing partners, the center-left Social Democrats, wanted to remove the ban from Germany’s criminal code. It provides for a fine or a prison sentence of up to two years. But Merkel’s center-right party insisted it should stay.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/german-cabinet-backs-compromise-in-abortion-dispute/2019/02/06/cce50b68-29f7-11e9-906e-9d55b6451eb4_story.html

06.02.2019

German Medical Association

Paragraph 219a German criminal code

German Cabinet approves revised abortion law

German Cabinet approves revised abortion law
Under the new abortion law, medical professionals and organizations could state that they carry out abortions. The reform has been criticized by some health professionals who say it prevents access to useful information.

Feb 6, 2019

The German Cabinet on Wednesday approved a compromised amendment to the law which currently bans medical professionals and clinics from even mentioning that they offer abortions.

The compromise proposal would continue to ban the "advertising" of abortions — also the word used to describe the current restrictions — but would in future allow practitioners to at least say whether they provide abortions or not.

Continued: https://www.dw.com/en/german-cabinet-approves-revised-abortion-law/a-47382601