Judgment of 10 June 1991
Neue juristische Wochenschrift 1991(37): 2362-2365
1991
ISSN/ISBN: 0341-1907 PMID: 12346991 Document Number: 342415
The plaintiff challenged the refusal by the Ministry of Social Services of his request to be licensed as a counselor to deal with conflicts relating to pregnancy. The Ministry justified its decision by stating that, if the plaintiff were licensed, his first priority would not be to attempt to convince a pregnant woman to continue her pregnancy as required by government law and regulations. In upholding a lower court decision, the Administrative Court at Mannheim, Germany, ruled that, although the abortion law requires the government to protect unborn life, the task of a counselor for women in situations of conflict over their pregnancies is to help such women make a conscientious decision with respect to abortion after weighing arguments on both sides of the question, not to promote continuance of pregnancy. It concluded that obligating a counselor to argue against an abortion or pressure a woman not to have an abortion would violate the language in the abortion law relating to counseling. On 7 May 1991, the same court ruled that a physician planning to perform abortions in his licensed clinic could not obtain from the Ministry of Social Services a declaration that such abortions would be lawful. It held that neither the abortion law nor other statutes authorized the Ministry to issue such a declaration, which would concern the elements of a criminal act not yet having been carried out and would bind law enforcement agencies. See Neue Juristische Wochenschrift, No. 37, 1991, pp. 2365-6.