Round Table to Resolve Dispute over Clause 219a

    

    

Doctors newspaper online, 05.08.2019

    

        
        
        

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abortions

The new list of doctors for abortions has rekindled the conflict over the controversial abortion bill 219a. The Federal Ministry of Health considers the list to be in need of improvement.

By Thomas Hommel

The SPD member Nina Scheer sparked the discussion about paragraph 219a with her criticism of the BÄK doctors list.

© Monika Skolimowska

BERLIN. In the newly incited dispute over the Abortion Paragraph 219a of the Criminal Code, Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) is apparently trying to smooth the waves.

Trigger the conflict
     a new online list of the German Medical Association (BÄK) . On this are listed doctors who perform abortions in their practices. So far, the list, which is part of Paragraph 219a, includes 87 entries from medical practices and other institutions. Among them are 56 in Berlin, 26 in Hamburg, three practices in North Rhine-Westphalia and two in Hesse.

The low number of entries provides strong criticism of the Greens and the Left, but also from the ranks of the SPD. An incomplete list, according to the allegation, only increases legal uncertainty among physicians and does not add value to affected women. Consequently, the whole of paragraph 291a is questionable.

BMG sees a need for improvement

Spahns spokesman said on Monday that the list was part of a compromise package between the federal government and the coalition. This compromise will now be implemented "step by step". There is no doubt that there is still room for improvement in the preparation and compilation of the list of doctors.

Therefore, the Minister wants to invite representatives of the German Medical Association and other associations again to a "round table". The meeting should serve "to develop proposals for a better implementation of the statutory list of doctors."

The BÄK emphasized that the list published online at the end of July will be continuously expanded and updated monthly in a work-in-progress procedure. The aim is "to provide women in emergencies with information already available as quickly as possible".

Previously, the SPD Bundestag member Dr. Nina Scheer calls the list in its present form "de facto disinformation". Minister of Health Spahn must quickly ensure that the list established on the basis of the legal compromise to paragraph 219a "also works," said Scheer.

The Bundestag had only last February decided on a compromise between the Union and the SPD on the controversial advertising ban on abortions. As a result, doctors are allowed to publicize that they are aborting. However, information beyond this – such as methods – is prohibited.

"Doctors fear pillory effect"

The Greens also repeated their criticism of the list. The Green Party spokeswoman for women's affairs, Ulle Schauws, told the "Ärzte Zeitung" that the compromise of the Grand Coalition on Article 219a was "anything but helpful".

Of the approximately 1,200 doctors nationwide who were currently carrying out abortions, only a fraction are on the list. "With the list now published, no person who needs information is helped."

Doctors also feared the "pillory effect" of the list and attacks by radical abortion opponents. "This condition is not sustainable," says Schauws.

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