Legal Provisions on Pregnancy Terminations Pursuant to Section 218 of the Criminal Code

According to the counselling arrangements applicable in Germany, termination of pregnancy is unlawful as a matter of principle, but will not be punishable under certain conditions (section 218a subs. 1 and section 219 of the Criminal Code – StGB):

• Termination of pregnancy is not punishable by law if the so-called counselling process is followed: for such a termination, the pregnant woman demanding such a procedure has to present a certificate to the surgeon to document that a counselling interview has taken place with an approved pregnancy conflict counselling agency no less than three days prior to the surgical procedure.
• Furthermore, termination of the pregnancy must be performed within twelve weeks after conception by a surgeon who was not involved in the counselling process.
• The unlawfulness of termination of pregnancy is excluded in case of medical indications (section 218 a subs. 2 of the Criminal Code) in order to prevent a threat to the life or a risk of serious harm to the physical or mental condition of the pregnant woman and when, in case of criminological indications, the pregnancy is the result of a sexual offence (sections 176 to 179 of the Criminal Code).

As regards the cost of termination of pregnancy, a distinction must be made between lawful termination of pregnancy resulting from a medical/criminological indication or termination subsequent to the counselling process. The cost of medically indicated terminations of pregnancy is borne by the statutory health insurance; criminologically indicated pregnancy terminations are paid from tax revenues.