Abortion law

Heiko Maas is one of the SPD lefties in Angela Merkel's "Grand Coalition" government cabinet.

By Carolyn Yeager

GERMANY'S JUSTICE MINISTER UNDER CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL, HEIKO MAAS, a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) has called for a Hitler-era law banning doctors from advertising abortion services to be changed.

Maas called paragraph 219a of the German criminal code a "relic of the Nazi era when the state controlled citizens' bodies.” The paragraph states that anyone who publicly "offers, announces [or] advertises" abortion services is to be punished with up to two years in jail or must pay a fine. Under the law, German medical practitioners can only offer abortion information in private consultations.