Coalition: Paragraph 218: Schwarz-Rot debates about the coalition agreement

In the Union and the SPD, the stipulations on the subject of pregnancy termination in the black and red coalition agreement are interpreted differently. “A change in paragraph 218 has not been agreed and would be in clear contradiction to the state’s obligation to protect against the unborn and the case law of the Federal Constitutional Court,” said CDU legal politician Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker of the “Welt”.

This is seen differently in the SPD. “In the coalition agreement, we agreed that we expand the cost of pregnancy beyond the current regulation. For me, this means that we want to make them a cash benefit,” said right -wing expert Carmen. “This would actually be necessary to legalize the abortion in the early phase because illegal interventions cannot be financed through the health insurance companies. Ms. Brosius-Gersdorf is right here.”

Definition in the coalition agreement

The background to the debate is a definition in the coalition agreement, which the lawyer Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf referred to, which has been nominated by the SPD for the Federal Constitutional Court. There it is said that for women in conflict situations, they want to give access to medically safe and close -home care. “We expand the assumption of costs from statutory health insurance beyond today’s regulations.”

According to Brosius-Gersdorf, this wording requires legalization of abortions in the early phase of pregnancy, since an obligation to pay the health insurance companies only exists for legitimate interruptions. With the reference to the coalition agreement, the lawyer reacted to the accusation that she was too liberal when it comes to abortions. Currently in Germany: abortions are illegal, but in the first twelve weeks, however, possible under certain conditions.

Union sees no need to change the applicable law

The Union rejects this interpretation: the wording only means the improvement in financial support for needy women, according to Winkelmeier-Becker. “In the event of low incomes, the costs are already covered by the federal states from tax funds. In the application process, the health insurance companies are the hinge, they forward the applications to the state bodies.” Nothing else is meant if there is talk of an expansion of the assumption of costs.

Your SPD colleague contradicts away. With their cross -faction draft law of legalizing pregnancy in the early phase, the SPD, the Greens and the Left could not have prevailed before the Bundestag election – also because time was lacking, said the legal politician of the “world”. In the course of the debate, CDU boss Friedrich Merz said that he was ready to speak after the election about legalizing the abortion. “We will also measure him on that.”

Merz does not rule out the need for legal changes

The Federal Chancellor said on Friday at his summer press conference that the appointments from the coalition agreement should come without drawbacks. “I cannot finally assess what legal consequences this has, possibly also on paragraph 218 of the Criminal Code,” said the Chancellor. He pointed out that abortions are currently illegal, but remained unpunished under certain circumstances.

“I am not able to answer whether this construction has to be changed if we change something in social law and health insurance law. My assumption is, at least because of this, we will not have to change anything,” said Merz.