STUTTGART, Germany, July 8, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — The government of the German state of Baden-Württemberg is contemplating forcing doctors to commit abortions, given the alleged lack of abortionists within the state. One of the potential measures involves making new hires at government-funded institutions “dependent on the willingness of doctors to perform abortions.”
“The main problem is that we have to get the young doctors to perform abortions,” said Bärbl Mielich, a member of the state government. “We are counting on them being made aware through further training that this is part of their work.”
According to Mielich, a “generational change is becoming noticeable.” Thus, a large number of abortionists in Baden-Württemberg are older than 60 years. “And there are not many who are willing to follow them,” she admitted.
Mielich expressed her bewilderment at the fact that many doctors don’t want to brutally kill and remove a human being from his mother’s womb — “whether it is because they don’t think about it and don’t see the problem [of not having enough abortionists], or whether they don’t want to for personal, ethical reasons,” she mused, “or whether they are afraid of persecution and a bad image. Many of those who have done and still do so have witnessed the debates in the 1980s and 1990s and acted in this way out of political conviction.”
Mielich advocated for repealing §218 of the German Criminal Code, which states, “Whoever terminates a pregnancy incurs a penalty of imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or a fine. Acts whose effects occur before nidation is completed are not deemed to be a termination of pregnancy within the meaning of this statute.”
For many decades, however, the German government has not enforced this paragraph, adding instead that §218 does not apply in case “the pregnant woman requests the termination of pregnancy and demonstrates to the physician by producing the certificate … that she obtained counselling at least three days prior to the procedure, … the termination is performed by a physician and … no more than 12 weeks have elapsed since conception.”
Additionally, abortions are not penalized “if, considering the pregnant woman’s present and future circumstances, the termination is medically necessary to avert a danger to the life of or the danger of grave impairment to the pregnant woman’s physical or mental health and if the danger cannot be averted in another manner which is reasonable for her to accept.” There are also exceptions for rape and incest.
Nonetheless, for the government of the state of Baden-Württemberg, which is led by the Green Party and supported by the Christian Democrats, the total undermining of §218 is not enough.
Cornelia Kaminski, head of German pro-life group “Aktion Lebensrecht für Alle” (ALfA), called the state government’s plan “reprehensible for several reasons.”
“To force doctors to participate in abortion in any form whatsoever deeply contradicts the Hippocratic oath,” she explained.
The Hippocratic oath, going back to the time before Christ, was historically taken by physicians. It states, among other things, “Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a course. Similarly I will not give to a woman a pessary to cause abortion.”
As ALfA’s Cornelia Kaminski pointed out, “medical action is always aimed at curing diseases, protecting and preserving life – but never at carrying out acts of killing. Especially not when the person to be killed is a defenseless child.”
Kaminski said is was with good reason that the number of doctors willing to perform abortions is continually decreasing. “Anyone who has ever observed an unborn baby in the womb using ultrasound, who has seen it kicking and sucking its thumb, has a problem with simply sucking it out [of the womb], cutting it up or injecting it [with deadly poison],” she explained.
According to Kaminski, forcing doctors to do any procedures could be “a criminal offense, for example, when doctors are coerced into unethical or homicidal acts[.] … It is almost grotesque that a state government should now be examining the extent to which doctors should be obliged to perform such acts and, moreover, it is in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights, Article 9 of which expressly guarantees freedom of conscience.”
She added that the state government should not be making abortions more accessible, but should offer “genuine help and financial support for young mothers and families, giving them courage and a perspective for a life with a child.”