UPDATE: On January 24, the cabinet of the German government accepted the proposed legislation restricting pro-life activism in front of abortion clinics. Family Minister Lisa Paus said she hopes the bill will be passed into law this summer by the German Parliament.
(LifeSiteNews) — The left-wing German government has proposed restrictions on pro-life activism in front of abortion mills.
According to the German newspaper Der Spiegel, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry for Family Affairs have agreed on a draft bill to ban so-called “sidewalk harassment” of women in front of abortion clinics.
According to the proposed law, no obstacles may be erected in front of abortion clinics in the future, and pregnant women may not be “approached, harassed or intimidated against their will,” Der Spiegel reports. It will also be forbidden to distribute any information about pregnancy and abortion that is “untrue or aims to cause strong emotional distress to pregnant women.”
A violation of the new law would be considered an administrative offense.
Family Minister Lisa Paus from the pro-abortion Green Party said, “It is unacceptable that a woman facing a highly personal decision, possibly the most difficult of her life, should be harassed, intimidated or confronted with emotionally charged images.”
In the cases of “harassment,” Paus said that “the freedom of expression of so-called pro-lifers has its limits.” Paus wants to “swiftly conclude” the legislative project and sign the proposed bill into law.
The left-wing German government coalition is well-known for its staunch pro-abortion stance. In 2022, Family Minister Paus revealed her plan to force medical students in Germany to participate in abortion to qualify as physicians. The government also abolished the advertising ban for abortions, allowing abortionists to use marketing for their “services” of killing unborn children. Parts of the German administration, especially the Green Party, have been advocating for a complete decriminalization of abortion.
German pro-life lawyer: It’s ‘psychological warfare’
LifeSiteNews spoke to German lawyer and executive director of 40 Days for Life International, Tomislav Cunovic, who said that the proposed legislation is mostly “a big media show.”
“In purely legal terms, this draft restricts behavior that is not permitted anyway under the current legal situation, i.e., criminal law in particular,” Cunovic said.
“For example, coercing someone, forcing someone to do something through coercive behavior, blocking someone’s path, blocking the entrance [to the abortion clinic], blocking the road, forcing conversations, cutting off someone’s path, etc., that has not been allowed until now anyway.”
The lawmakers therefore included offenses in the bill that were already illegal. According to Cunovic, the is rather a form of “activism” so that politicians can show that “they have done something.”
The pro-life lawyer believes that not much will change for the 40 Days for Life prayer vigils from a legal perspective.
The proposed law is part of a media campaign and is trying to send the message that prayer vigils in front of abortion clinics will be illegal, but Cunovic thinks that this is not the case. Rather, it is part of a “psychological warfare” against pro-lifers.
Cunovic told LifeSiteNews that a general ban on prayer vigils would violate the German Constitution (“Grundgesetz”) because it restricts fundamental freedoms such as freedom of assembly, freedom of opinion, and freedom of religion. He is convinced that such a ban would be overturned by the courts because there is recent precedent. 40 Days for Life already won several court cases when they were faced with attempts by local authorities to ban their prayer vigils, e.g. in Frankfurt and Pfortzheim.
The German lawyer said “buffer zones” that were introduced in the United Kingdom would be unconstitutional in Germany.
READ: UK court upholds ‘buffer zone’ against pro-life vigils at abortion facilities
Cunovic told LifeSiteNews that accusations of “harassment” of women by pro-lifers spread by the media, politicians, and the abortion lobby have been proven to be “unsubstantiated allegations.”
“Of course, no one is being harassed, and there have never been any incidents… neither serious complaints nor have there been any reports or evidence that anything like this has happened,” he said.
“This all belongs in the realm of insinuations”, especially by the pro-abortion organization “pro familia,” the German branch of the International Planned Parenthood Federation.
In court, these allegations “proved to be completely untenable because… there weren’t even any witnesses, it was all based on hearsay, then the media blew it up and the politicians picked it up,” Cunovic recalled.
The German lawyer said that the law is part of an intimidation strategy against pro-lifers, which also includes media campaigns and “character assassinations.”
“I was massively attacked in the media with the nastiest insinuations,” he recalled.
Cunovic furthermore noted that the prayer vigils are regularly threatened and attacked by Antifa and other groups and that the police often had to protect the 40 Days for Life activists.
Cunovic announced that 40 Days for Life will take legal action against the new law if necessary: “We are not afraid of legal disputes.”