The court held that “Basic Law” (Grundgesetz, also referred to as the German constitution) protects the rights of unborn fetus. In order to protect these rights, the court held that termination of a pregnancy should be viewed as categorically wrong and prohibited by law. The court notes that there may be situations where the rights of the unborn fetus conflict with the rights of the mother (as similarly protected by Article 1, Paragraph 1 of the Basic Law). In such a case, the court says that the rights of the mother will not be protected because such protection involves the act of “killing” the unborn fetus. The court notes that is “exceptional” circumstances it may be permissible to allow a woman to terminate a pregnancy. The court says that it is up to the legislature to determine what constitutes an exceptional circumstance. The court further holds that it would be permissible for the state to abstain from criminally punishing abortion, so long as the state implemented a counseling system designed to talk women out of terminating a pregnancy. According with the court, termination of a pregnancy will only be considered justified (not illegal) if it is determined upon counseling that there are exceptional circumstances. This case is significant because it demonstrates that, although abortion is still technically illegal in Germany, the state has allowed it to go unpunished in certain circumstances.
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