Chief physician against the church: Chief physician is subject to a lawsuit against abortion ban

It is a defeat for the plaintiff, but for doctors Joachim Volz, “the last sentence has not yet been spoken.” In the dispute over a ban on abortion, a chief physician of the Lippstadt Clinic with his complaint against the Catholic carrier failed. The Labor Court of Hamm decided on Friday in the sensational case that his complaint was rejected against a service instruction by the merged “Lippstadt Clinic – Christian Hospital”.

There was initially no reason. Only one sentence by judge Klaus Griese: According to the court, the employer is “entitled to both measures”. More details will be made in writing. In a short press release, it was subsequently that the hospital was entitled to “make these specifications in the context of the right of management”.

The dispute in the negotiation

Gynecologist Volz (67) had carried out medically indicated abortions with his team in individual cases in his many years of work at the Lippstadt Evangelical Hospital. This had been prohibited from the Catholic sponsor after a merger since February 2025 – also with serious malformations of the fetus. According to the clinic, a demolition is allowed as an exception if “body and life of the pregnant women are in danger”.

The clinic instruction with a ban on abortion also includes the activity of the gynecologist in its private practice, which is around 50 kilometers away. Here, too, the Gynecologist’s complaint has now been rejected.

In the negotiation, the judge pointed out that medically indicated demolitions in the clinic were not categorically prohibited, but continued to be allowed in parts. An exception is the situation that “the body and life of the mother or the unborn child are acutely threatened, and there is no medically possible alternative with which the life of the unborn child could be saved.” These exceptions would then have to be documented and announced to the management.

The argument of the clinic and the plaintiff

The managing director of the clinic, Hauke Schild, says that an employer may determine what is done in his company and what is not. “This is entrepreneurial freedom.” The legal representative of the plaintiff, Till Müller -Heidelberg,, on the other hand, argued that a clinic management could issue service instructions, but these did not include the medical field – i.e. diagnostics and therapy.

The chief physician believes that the ban on the Catholic carrier ignores the medical judgment, the will of the patient and the law, which allows such an intervention in certain cases. A termination within the first twelve weeks after consultation is not punishable according to the penal code. A medically indicated abortion – with massive malformations of the fetus, after rape and in the event of dangers to life, physical or mental health of the pregnant woman – is allowed.

In the courtroom, Volz said that the new clinic management did not leave him any scope even in the worst damage – such as an unborn child without a skull ceiling. Even in such cases, he should not stop. In severe emergency situations, however, a woman must have the freedom to decide.

A difficult case, but not an isolated case?

In a demo entitled “Stop the Catholic abortion ban” shortly before the court hearing, Volz told the German Press Agency that he does not see this discussion about the Lippstadt Clinic as an individual case. Wherever Catholic carriers were coming to the end of politically wanted clinic fusions, it is to be feared that these aids would no longer be offered structurally. He was worried that the handling would also change, that women would be pushed to the edge, stigmatized and in the end would have to go abroad for break -offs.

Demonstrators demand “church, leave the women free”

According to the police, around 2,000 people took part in a demo train who also passed the clinic. On the transparent it was read “Heaven Hell hypocrisy! Church, leave the women free” or “help and self -determination instead of punishment”. In the call to the protest, Volz emphasized: “From the perspective of the Catholic wearer, every termination of a pregnancy is murder. So my team and I would be” murderer “”.

The organizer of the demo, Sarah Gonschorek (Greens), told the dpa that she found the ban to be a great injustice towards the women concerned. Politicians had also come from the federal government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, including the Green Co-parliamentary group leader Britta Haßelmann.

Petition “against criminalization of abortion” with a lot of encouragement

A petition that the doctor also on July 1 under the title “I am a doctor – my help is not a sin!” Started has so far been signed by a good 232,000 people. In the Demomarsch, Volz stopped in front of the clinic and held up a table to which he entered the number 231,470 – the current number of signatures. That is “overwhelming”.

The legal dispute should continue

A termination was not an option for him, Volz said before the negotiation on DPA request. His help as a doctor is “a requirement of humanity”. A quality date in court failed in spring. After the decision, he said when asked whether he would seek the next judicial authority, that was “almost certain”. However, he first had to check the reasoning and advise with his legal representatives. Shortly before the negotiation, he had emphasized: “I am firmly convinced that reason and humanity will win. If it shouldn’t be today, we have staying power.”