Following today’s ruling by the Giessen District Court against the doctor Kristina Hänel, the Humanist Association of Germany (HVD-Bundesverband) has reiterated its demands for the abolition of Section 219a of the German Criminal Code. Hänel was sentenced to a fine of 6,000 euros by the Giessen District Court for providing information on abortion on her website. Psychologist Ines Scheibe from the board of the HVD Federal Association criticized the verdict on Friday afternoon in Berlin as an “excessive reaction based on an outdated legal provision that is hostile to women’s rights”.
She said: “A self-determined life is inconceivable without self-determined family planning. Self-determined family planning is not possible without access to medically and psychologically qualified and ideologically neutral information about the possibilities and conditions for ending unwanted pregnancies in good time. 219a StGB makes access to this information more difficult, it hinders self-determined decisions for or against pregnancy without good reasons and provides a basis for unacceptable harassment by religious fundamentalists and other radical opponents of abortion,” says Scheibe, head of a pregnancy counseling center in Berlin and, among other things, a member of the coordination group of the HVD-initiated and co-founded alliance for sexual self-determination active. Even in the digital age, women should be able to easily find out where they can turn to in the event of unwanted pregnancies and should also be able to find this out through their own research, Scheibe continued.
She also criticized the amount of the fine imposed by Giessen District Court, with which the judge complied with the prosecutor’s request. The penalty was an “exaggerated reaction based on an outdated legal provision that is hostile to women’s rights. We therefore expressly support parliamentary initiatives to repeal 219a StGB in its current form, so that a contradictory legal situation that makes safe access to abortion more difficult and continues to unjustifiably criminalize doctors and clinic staff is finally eliminated,” said Scheibe.
