80 percent of Germans believe abortion is illegal. This is demonstrated by a representative survey.

Protest against abortion regulations in Germany on Women's Day 2024 Photo: Pierre Adenis

SEDAN taz | More than 80 percent of the German population considers it wrong that an abortion that an unwanted pregnant woman decides to undergo after receiving counseling is illegal. This is the result of a representative demographic survey commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Women's Affairs (BMFSFJ), which can be accessed exclusively by taz. About 75 percent also think that in the future abortion should no longer be regulated in the criminal code.

It is noteworthy that voters of all parties represented in the Bundestag clearly reject the illegality of abortion. Even in the Union, which rejects the legalization of abortion, it is 77.5 percent, and in the AfD it is 67.4 percent. 93.9 percent of left-wing voters and 92.4 percent of green voters consider illegality to be wrong; among SPD voters the figure is 87.5 percent.

Even broken down by religious affiliation, all groups surveyed view illegality as wrong. Even among Catholics it is around 65 percent.

Almost 80 percent of those surveyed also consider it correct that in France the right to terminate a pregnancy is included in the Constitution. More than 86 percent think doctors should talk openly about the fact that they perform abortions.

The survey was conducted by Civey on behalf of the BMFSFJ in March and April 2024. On Monday morning, a commission of experts commissioned by the traffic light coalition presented its results on the question of whether abortions could be regulated outside of criminal law and how. . The SPD and the Greens had requested in their electoral programs that the ban on abortion contained in article 218 of the Penal Code be abolished.