Advertising ban on abortion: Union and SPD want to pull through 219a reform quickly

A dissenting vote in the Union faction, four in the SPD: The factions of the grand coalition have passed the controversial bill reforming Paragraph 219a by a large majority. He is now even on Thursday in the second and third reading in the Bundestag advise and then decided.

The reform of the so-called advertising ban on abortions is one of the most sensitive bills of the coalition. At the end of January, the Union and the SPD had come to terms after long struggles: According to this, doctors should be allowed to inform on their website in the future that they make cancellations, they should only link to further information. According to the plan, Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) is to commission a study on the possible psychological consequences of abortions. The Federal Cabinet had already provided five million euros for this.

But at the beginning of the week, there was again excitement behind the scenes, because from the SPD side, an old demand came back on the table: The Social Democrats wanted that the pure information that doctors or hospitals put on their website, are supplemented by more details - to the method of crashes. From the point of view of CDU and CSU, however, this would exactly exceed the red line for advertising abortions.

This was apparently on Monday in a hearing in the Legal Committee of the Bundestag, on Tuesday morning, there were then further discussions between the experts of the groups. The union was not ready for further changes, according to the SPD parliamentary group.

Criticism of Barley in the faction

For this reason, on Tuesday afternoon it looked as if the coalition could once again have a problem with the bill. From the Union it was said, in the SPD there is still "need for discussion", also in the Social Democrats was expected in a heated debate in the faction.

There was also a lengthy debate at the meeting, but according to participants, MEPs were overwhelmingly constructive. Only the deputies Nina Scheer and Hilde Mattheis expressed sharp criticism of Justice Minister Katarina Barley (SPD), which had negotiated the compromise with the Union Ministers.

Barley dismissed the allegations as "spoil-taking." In a trial vote, there were then four votes against and three abstentions. In the Union there was no debate, in the vote a member of parliament voted No.

GroKo takes account of the Left Party

For years, the SPD has called for the complete abolition of the advertising ban on abortions - and part of the party would like to delete Paragraph 218 at the same time. In the coalition agreement, the issue was left out with regard to CDU and CSU to start the government in the spring of 2018, the conflict but only postponed. For ideological reasons, parts of the Union did not seem to be ready for much change.

As doctors such as the Giessen physician Kristina Hänel were increasingly fined because they pointed to the possible interference in their practices, the pressure on the SPD rose at the same time - also on the part of the three opposition parties FDP, Greens and Left, all for a deletion of the abortion ban.

The bill was discussed last Friday in the so-called first reading in the Bundestag. The fact that the law is to be adopted on Thursday, is apparently a gesture of GroKo to the left: This begins on Friday, its federal party convention in Bonn - to this the members of the party should be able to arrive in time.