Germany should legalise abortions within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, a government-appointed commission recommended on Monday, to clarify the situation in a country where abortions are widely available but subject to formal restrictions.
Abortion is officially illegal in Germany except under certain circumstances.
If the life of the woman is at risk, there are no time restrictions. A woman can also have a legal abortion within the first 12 weeks if she is a victim of violent crime or undergoes counselling, which means that prosecutions are extremely rare.
Last year, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s centre-left coalition set up a commission of 18 experts in medicine, psychology, ethics and law, to look at possible new rules.
Its recommendations are due to be published later on Monday.
“The fundamental illegality of abortion in the early phase of pregnancy is untenable,” commission member Liane Woerner, criminal law professor at Konstanz University, told a press conference ahead of the publication.
