Good news from Germany, where in 2021 the number of aborted children dropped to an all-time low: about 4,000 fewer than in the previous year.
As assessed by the Evangelical Focus Europe, the reasons for the decline are still unclear: however, it is believed that the efforts of German pro-lifers to support expectant mothers in need and the awareness campaign to promote the concept of human dignity of unborn children greatly contributed to such outcome.
Germany’s official statistics institute Destatis reports that 94,596 children were aborted in 2021, a decrease of 5.4% compared to about 99,000 in 2020. Only about 4% of abortions in 2021 were performed as a result of rape or because of danger to the life or health of the mother.
In short, the 2021 figures represent a real low for Germany. According to Evangelical Focus, at the turn of the century, about 130,000 babies a year were aborted.
The “traffic light coalition” doesn’t like children
Abortion in Germany is legal until week 12 of the child’s life in the womb as well as at any point during pregnancy if there are risks to the physical or emotional health of the mother. Before a woman can undergo an abortion, she is required to go for an interview, followed by a three-day waiting period.
Advertising for abortion is prohibited, but the government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz would like to repeal this ban. Because the political agreement of the red-yellow-green coalition (the so-called “traffic light coalition”) signed in November actually states that killing unborn children would become “part of reliable health care.”
Strong criticism of this orientation is now coming from the pro-life and religious circles. During an interview in March, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, once again strongly condemned abortion, explaining that the killing of unborn children is “the most heinous of crimes against life”.
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