A majority of Germans reject the approach favored by the Greens and the Left Party which implies removing prenatal abortion from the criminal code. This is the result of a representative survey by the Wahlen Research Group for the ZDF magazine Frontal magazine. According to the survey, 54% of respondents believe that Section 218 should remain in the penal code, while another 3% advocate tightening it. Only 36% of respondents favored abolishing the criminal law provision.
The survey shows differences in age and party preferences. Young women are more in favor of abolishing Paragraph 218, as is being considered by the so-called traffic light coalition. However, with increasing age, resistance to abolition is also growing.
A clear majority of Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union voters (67%) supported the retention of Section 218 of the German Penal Code. Among voters for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) (57%), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) (55%), and even the Social Democratic Party (52%), which holds the chancellorship, more than half favor keeping the legislation unchanged. Only among voters for Alliance 90/The Greens (46%) and the Left Party (31%) the poll shows that less than half and less than one-third, respectively, are in favor of retaining the criminal law provision.
While public opinion on the issue remains divided, the survey shows that a significant proportion of Germans, including a majority of voters from several major parties, oppose the decriminalization of abortion and support the retention of Section 218 in the Penal Code.