Abortions in first 12 weeks should be legal in Germany, says commission

BERLIN: Germany should legalise abortions within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, a government-appointed commission recommended on Monday.

Abortion is illegal in Germany barring certain circumstances such as when the life of the woman is at risk or she is a victim of a violent crime. In these cases, the procedure must be performed within 12 weeks of conception.

In reality, however, abortions are widely available and prosecutions extremely rare. Last year, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s centre-left coalition set up a commission of 18 experts in medicine, psychology, ethics and law, to look at possible new rules.