In November 2017, German doctor Kristina Hänel was found guilty of breaking Paragraph 219a of the German Criminal Code and fined €6,000 by the Gießen District Court. Her crime? Listing abortion as a medical service on her practice’s website.

Dr. Hänel was charged under Nazi-era Paragraph 219a, which criminalizes advertising abortion services. The offense is punishable with up to two years in prison for anyone who publicly “offers, announces or recommends services for pregnancy termination.” In court, Hänel’s defense lawyer argued that her website remains informational and does not meet the definition of advertising. Nonetheless, the Gießen judge found Dr. Hänel guilty, justifying the ruling, “Lawmakers do not want to discuss abortion in public as if it were a normal thing.” Except, as Dr. Hänel and many women know, abortion is a normal thing. Over 100,000 individuals in Germany choose to terminate unwanted pregnancies each year.

Although abortion is a common procedure in Germany, it remains technically illegal under Paragraph 218, where it is listed next to murder and manslaughter. Only through a subsequent amendment is abortion permitted, granted specific requirements are met: pregnant people must obtain an abortion within the first twelve weeks of pregnancy, after completing mandatory counseling with a certified counselor, and waiting four days between counseling and procedure. Abortion is not covered by health insurance except for very low-income individuals or in the case of rape or crime. Kate Cahoon, a leading member of the Bündnis für sexuelle Selbstbestimmung (Alliance for Sexual Self-Determination) argues “the fact that abortion is still regulated by the criminal code in Germany shows that we still have a long way to go in the fight for sexual and reproductive rights.” She continues: “Paragraph 219a is only part of the problem, it’s Paragraph 218 that makes abortion a crime — feminists and socialists have been fighting for its abolition for over a century.”