Suffering a miscarriage is bad enough, plus there are financial consequences that are hardly known: according to the Maternity Protection Act, miscarriages do not count as childbirth, which is why women have to pay co-payments when they are admitted to a hospital.

This is pointed out by the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag, which at the same time demands that this grievance be remedied.

Most of the costs would be covered by the insurance companies.

Unlike mothers who have to do with childbirth, women with miscarriages are not exempted from the obligation to pay 10 euros a day in clinics.

Christian Geinitz

Business correspondent in Berlin

  • Follow I follow

A miscarriage is associated with considerable psychological and physical stress, which is why it should not be that the women are also "asked to pay," said the FDP health politician and medical lawyer Katrin Helling-Plahr of the FAZ urgently required legal clarification that the term “childbirth” will in future also include miscarriages so that all women are treated equally and exempted from co-payment.

“It's also a question of decency,” says the MP.

In a written answer to the Liberals, the Federal Ministry of Health under Jens Spahn (CDU) confirms that the term childbirth “does not generally cover miscarriages”.

This is why they are not subject to the regulation "to allow women the necessary time to regenerate from the physical stresses resulting from childbirth (puerperium)".

Changes to this are not planned either in the Maternity Protection Act or in Book V of the Social Code.

The federal government sees no need for action

The Federal Government is nevertheless of the opinion that the patients should be given sufficient consideration.

On the one hand, the term miscarriage was legally recorded in the Maternity Protection Act precisely because women are exposed to particular stress in this situation.

On the other hand, insured women would have comprehensive health insurance coverage, "which also includes medical care in the event of a miscarriage".

The insurance covers the outpatient or inpatient treatment, the psychotherapy, the supply of medicines and aids or the rehabilitation.

Midwifery assistance can also be used in the event of a miscarriage.

In the event of incapacity for work, the provisions on sick pay and sick pay apply.

"The protective purpose is disregarded"

Of course, all of this is not enough for the FDP. It demands that the co-payment also be waived and that there is full equality with women who have recently given birth. Mothers are under the special protection of the social rule of law, especially if they have lost their child, emphasizes Helling-Plahr: "It is a scandal that the federal government ignores this situation and thus disregards the protective purpose of the social security code."

A miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the premature termination of a pregnancy due to the expulsion or death of a body fruit weighing less than 500 grams or before the end of the 23rd week of pregnancy. After this period or at higher weights, one speaks of stillbirth. Unlike these, miscarriages are not subject to civil registration. Most also take place outside of hospitals, so no total numbers are known. According to earlier information from the federal government, there are around 40 miscarriages for every 1,000 live births in German clinics, which is around 31,000 cases a year. The number of registered stillbirths is around a tenth as high.