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Protecting Unborn Life in the Secular Age: The Catholic Church and the West German Abortion Debate, 1969–1989

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2014

Kimba Allie Tichenor
Kimba Allie Tichenor*
Affiliation:
Notre Dame Institute of Advanced Study
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Extract

In 1969, the newly elected coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) in West Germany announced plans to reform Paragraph 218, the law that regulated women's access to abortion. This announcement prompted a public debate in West Germany on the state's obligation to protect unborn life—a debate that continues today in reunified Germany. Through an analysis of key events in that debate between 1969 and 1989, this article makes a twofold argument. First it argues that despite West Germany's increasingly secular orientation, the Catholic Church exercised significant political influence with respect to abortion policy throughout the history of the Federal Republic. Second, it argues that the West German Church's participation in these debates exposed deep rifts within the Catholic community, which, in turn, contributed to the formation of a smaller, more activist, and conservative Church. This smaller Church has achieved a remarkable degree of political success in reunified Germany by mobilizing its conservative core constituency, embracing new arguments, and pursuing issue-specific alliances.

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Central European History , Volume 47 , Issue 3 , September 2014 , pp. 612 - 645
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Copyright © Central European History Society of the American Historical Association 2014 

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References

1 For a liberal perspective, see Dombrowski, Daniel A. and Deltete, Robert, A Brief, Liberal Catholic Defense of Abortion (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2000)Google Scholar; for a scholarly assessment, see Demel, Sabine, Abtreibung zwischen Straffreiheit und Exkommunikation. Weltliches und kirchliches Strafrecht auf dem Prüfstand (Stuttgart: Verlag W. Kohlhammer, 1995)Google Scholar.

2 McBrien, Richard P. and Attridge, Harold W., ed., HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism (New York: HarperCollins, 1995), 5–7Google Scholar.

3 Böckle and Antweiler were Swiss theologians who taught in West Germany, while the West German theologian Häring taught in Rome. All took part in the West German debate.

4 On theological approaches to liberalization, see Smith, David, “Abortion: A Moral Controversy,” Dialogue: A Journal for Religious Studies and Philosophy no. 8 (April 1997): 13–18Google Scholar.

5 Quote from Uta Ranke-Heinemann, Eunochs for the Kingdom of Heaven: Women, Sexuality, and the Catholic Church, trans. Peter Heinegg (New York: Doubleday, 1990), 306.

6 Anton Antweiler, “Dürfen Katholiken abtreiben?” Stern, July 18, 1971.

7 Bundesarchiv(hereafter BA), B 189/6311-61-62, Horst Hermann, “Achtung statt Achtung. Die Folgen des §218 und das kirchliche Unehelichenrecht,” Publik, July 9, 1971. The Catholic Church rescinded Hermann's teaching authorization in 1975. In 1981, Hermann left the Church.

8 Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, December 6, 1965, no. 76.

9 For a history of German abortion law, see, for example, Grossmann, Atina, Reforming Sex: The German Movement for Birth Control and Abortion Reform 1920–1950 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992)Google Scholar; Gante, Michael, §218 in der Diskussion. Meinungs- und Willensbildung 1945–1976 (Düsseldorf: Droste, 1991)Google Scholar.

10 Grossmann, Reforming Sex, 136–66.

11 For Articles 1 and 2 of the Basic Law, see the Deutsche Bundestag website: http://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/rechtsgrundlagen/grundgesetz/gg_01.html.

12 Herzog, Dagmar, Sex after Fascism: Memory and Morality in Twentieth-Century Germany (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005), 222Google Scholar.

13 Das Gesetz des Staates und die sittliche Ordnung, in Harald Pawlowski, Krieg gegen die Kinder? Für und Wider die Abtreibung – Mit einer Dokumentation (Limburg: Lahn Verlag, 1971), 129. For a detailed analysis of this joint declaration and its reception, see Mantei, Simone, Na und Ja zur Abtreibung. Die Evangelische Kirche in der Reformdebatte um [Paragraph] 218 StGB, 1970–1976 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2004), 62–82Google Scholar.

14 For an excerpt from “Verlautbarung der deutschen Bischöfe zur Strafrechtsreform, insbesondere zum Schutz des werdenden Lebens” released by the German Bishops' Conference on September 24, 1970, as well as the official statement released by the BDKJ board of directors on December 3, 1971, see Düsseldorf, Jugendhaus, 218. Ein Paragraph und seine Probleme (Düsseldorf: Schriftenreihe des Jugendhauses Düsseldorf, 1972)Google Scholar; for the ZdK declaration from October 30, 1970, see Zentral Komitee der deutschen Katholiken (ZdK), “Erklärung des Zentralkomitees der Deutschen Katholiken zum Schutz des werdenden Lebens,” Berichte und Dokumente, no. 11 (1970): 5–6Google Scholar.

15 Rudolf Augstein, “Grundgesetz und 218,” Der Spiegel, September 13, 1971.

16 Ibid.

17 “Erklärung des Verbandes der niedergelassenen Ärzte Deutschlands,” June 24, 1971, in Pawlowski, Krieg gegen die Kinder? 155.

18 Archiv für Christlich-Demokratische Politik, Konrad-Adenauer Stiftung, (hereafter ACDP), VIII-005-040/3, Letter from the Berufverband der Frauenärzte to Rainer Barzel, February 8, 1973.

19 “Wir haben gegen den §218 verstossen,” Stern, June 3, 1971. The exact number of illegal abortions in West Germany was unknown. Contemporary estimates ranged widely—from 1,000,000 to 100,000.

20 Pawlowski, Krieg gegen die Kinder?, 19.

21 “Infratest-Befragung” from March/April 1971 in ibid., 146–50.

22 Wiliarty, Sarah Elise, The CDU and the Politics of Gender in Germany: Bringing Women to the Party (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 82Google Scholar.

23 “Aktionsprogramm gegen Abtreibung. CAJ und ‘Junge Gemeinschaft’ wollen Öffentlichkeit informieren,” Informationsdienst (Bund der Deutschen Katholischen Jugend), July 16, 1971Google Scholar.

24 Ibid.

25 The Speyer and the Hildesheim diocesan KFD chapters sent letters to every member of the Bundestag in September 1971, condemning any law that allowed abortion except in cases where the mother's life was endangered. See ACDP VIII-005-040/3, letter to the members of the Bundestag from the Diözesanverband Speyer (KFD), September 30, 1971; letter to members of the Bundestag from the Diözesanverband Hildesheim, September 24, 1971. In February 1971, the national Catholic newspaper Deutsche Tagespost published the exchange between the founder of the German-speaking branch of the Community of the Lady of All Nations (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Die Frau aller Völker), Franz Graf von Magnis, and Federal Justice Minister Jahn, as well as letters written by Magnis to Chancellor Willy Brandt. In the letters, Magnis condemned abortion law reform, equating it with National Socialist crimes. The secular media largely ignored the exchange. For excerpts, see von Magnis, Franz Graf, ed., Pornographie—Ehescheidung—Abtreibung. Gedanken, Analysen, Dokumente (Aschaffenburg: Paul Pattloch Verlag, 1971), 83–88Google Scholar.

26 Cardinal Jaeger quoted in Pawlowski, Krieg gegen die Kinder? 92.

27 Ibid., 127.

28 BA, B189/6311-549, “Wortlauf der Stellungnahme,” Die Welt, February 15, 1972.

29 BA, B189/6311-549, F. M. Rum, “Wer kommentierte im ‘Osservatore’ den §218?” Die Welt, February 15, 1972.

30 Roegele, Otto B., “Wächteramt oder Herrschaftsanspruch? Die Bischöfe, der §218 und die Politik,” Communio. Internationale Katholische Zeitschrift 3 (1972): 272Google Scholar.

31 Ibid.

32 Ibid.

33 “Ich bin nicht Zensor von Kardinal,” Der Spiegel, March 13, 1972.

34 Ibid.

35 Roegele, “Wächteramt oder Herrschaftsanspruch?” 277.

36 Ibid., 274–77.

37 “Sowieso allein,” Der Spiegel, December 11, 1972.

38 “Das ist geistliche Nötigung,” Der Spiegel, September 22, 1980.

39 Adenauer quoted in Spotts, Frederic, The Churches and Politics in Germany (Middleton, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1979), 159–60Google Scholar.

40 See ZdK, “Großkundgebung der Arbeitsgemeinschaft der katholischen Verbände Deutschlands. Für das Leben, 29. September 1973,” Berichte und Dokumente 20 (1973)Google Scholar. Note that this issue is dedicated to the Bonn mass rally held on September 29, 1973, and includes the text of all rally speeches.

41 At a plenary meeting of the ZdK immediately before the rally, Aenne Brauksiepe compared the liberalization of abortion law in Western European nations to Nazi policy and quoted the British doctor's remarks at length. See Brauksiepe, Aenne, “Einführung in den Tagesordnungspunkt 23–24 March 1973,” Berichte und Dokumente 18 (1973): 39–40Google Scholar. At the rally, the British doctor was quoted without the Nazi references. See ZdK, “Zu den Erfahrungen in anderen Ländern,” Berichte und Dokumente 20 (1973): 23–24Google Scholar. Note that speakers are not identified by name in the report.

42 See, for example, Schmid-Egger, Barbara, chair of the BDKJ, “Menschenrechte und Menschenwürde,” in Berichte und Dokumente 20 (1973)Google Scholar.

43 Rahner, Karl, Strukturwandel der Kirche als Aufgabe und Chance (Freiburg: Herderbücherei, 1971), 29Google Scholar.

44 Ibid., 69.

45 Ibid., 90.

46 Ibid., 74–75.

47 Ibid., 24.

48 Mantei, Na und Ja, 403.

49 Friedrich Karl Fromme, “Kompromiß über den Paragraphen 218 nach dem Ärzte-Konzept?” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, May 20, 1974.

50 Mantei, Na und Ja, 412–13.

51 “Wir nehmen die Herausforderung an. Erklärung des Präsidenten des Zentralkomitees der Katholiken,” Katholische Nachrichten-Agentur (hereafter KNA), June 6, 1974.

52 “Noch hat die Fristenregelung keine Gesetzeskraft. Erklärung des Vorsitzenden der Bischofskonferenz, Kardinal Döpfner,” KNA, June 6, 1974.

53 “Schwieriger Test,” Die Zeit, June 21, 1974.

54 Bundesverfassungsgerichts Entscheidungen (hereafter BverfGE) 39, 1—Schwangerschaftsabbruch 39, 1, A I 8.

55 Unlike the U.S. Supreme Court, the German Constitutional Court can determine the constitutionality of a statute “in the abstract.” In other words, having a litigant who has been harmed by a statute is not a case prerequisite. For a contemporary discussion of differences between the judicial authority of the two high courts, see Gorby, John D., “Introduction to the Translation of the Abortion Decision of the Federal Constitutional Court of the Federal Republic of Germany,” John Marshall Journal of Practice and Procedure 9, no. 3 (1976): 557–94Google Scholar.

56 Article 14, paragraph 1 of Part 1 of the Federal Constitutional Court Act assigned the First Senate responsibility for hearing cases when a legal provision was alleged to be incompatible with the Basic Law. See Bundesverfassungsgerichtgesetz (hereafter BVerfGG), March 12, 1951, http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/bundesrecht/bverfgg/gesamt.pdf.

57 BVerfGE 39, 1—Schwangerschaftsabbruch, A II 2. The CDU also argued that the Bundestag could not act without Bundesrat approval. See Section A, Part II, No. 1. All translations of the decision are my own.

58 BVerfGE 39, 1, A III 1b and 1c.

59 BVerfGE 39, 1, A, III, 2.

60 Ibid.

61 Ibid.

62 BVerfGE 39, 1, C I 1b.

63 BVerfGE 39, 1, C I 1c.

64 BVerfGE 39, 1, C, II 2.

65 BVerfGE 39, 1, C III 3.

66 BVerfGE 39, 1, C II, 3 and D II 1 and 2a.

67 Hans Schueler, “Die Sittenwächter der Nation. Karlsruhe entschied wider die Fristenlösung,” Die Zeit, February 28, 1975.

68 Roderich Reifenrath, “Die Karlsruhe Enzyklika,” Frankfurter Rundschau, February 26, 1975.

69 Rudolf Augstein, “Zuchtmeister für Bonn und Bürger,” Der Spiegel, March 3, 1975.

70 “218-Protest. Von hinten gegriffen,” Der Spiegel, February 24, 1975. This protest action occurred prior to official release of the decision. News that the court had rejected the statute had been leaked.

71 BVerfGE 39, 1, “Abweichende Meinung der Richterin Rupp-v. Brünneck und des Richters Dr. Simon zum Urteil des Ersten Senats des Bundesverfassungsgerichts vom 25. Februar 1975,” B II 2.

72 See BVerfGE 1, 14—Südweststaat, October 23, 1951, no. 27; BVerfGE 3, 225—Gleichberechtigung, December 18, 1953, B II 2b. For a discussion of the crucial role that natural law played in early West German high court decisions, see Heget, James E., Contemporary German Legal Philosophy (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996)Google Scholar; Moyn, Samuel, “Personalism, Community, and the Origins of Human Rights,” in Human Rights in the Twentieth Century, ed. Hoffmann, Stefan-Ludwig (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 85–106Google Scholar. For a study about prominent opponents of Catholic natural law, see Lora Wildenthal, “Rudolf Laun and the Human Rights of Germans in Occupied and Early West Germany,” in Human Rights, ed. Hoffmann, 125–46. For a contemporary German study on the influence exercised by Catholic legal thought in postwar Germany, see Simon, Helmut, Katholisierung des Rechtes? Zum Einfluß katholischen Rechtsdenken auf die gegenwärtige deutsche Gesetzgebung und Rechtsprechung (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1962)Google Scholar.

73 Entscheidungen des Bundesgerichtshof in Zivilsachen (BGHZ) 3, 107 referenced in Simon, Katholisierung des Rechtes? 16.

74 Dietze, Gottfried, “Natural Law in Modern European Countries,” Natural Law Forum 73 (1956): 74–75Google Scholar.

75 On its widespread acceptance by postwar German jurists, see von der Heydte, Freiherr, “Natural Law Tendencies in Contemporary German Jurisprudence,” Natural Law Forum (1956): 115–21Google Scholar. Von der Heydte noted that although Protestant legal experts avoided the term “natural law,” their position did not differ significantly from the Catholic view; both claimed that positive law found its justification in God. Protestant jurists did not emphasize man's inherent sinful nature, however. The authors also discussed German legal scholars who promoted a Neo-Kantian form of natural law; these scholars underscored the transcendental character of ethics, rather than God, as the ultimate source of authority.

76 Hans-Christoph Seebohm, a Protestant, was a member of the Deutschepartei, a conservative German political party. In 1960, he switched to the CDU. For a brief biography of Seebohm, see Geschichte der CDU, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, http://www.kas.de/wf/de/71.8582.

77 BVerfGE 39, 1, C I 1d.

78 Gante, §218 in der Diskussion, 54–55.

79 On the post-decision Catholic advantage, see Ferree, Myra Marx et al. , Shaping Abortion Discourse: Democracy and the Public Sphere in Germany and the United States (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 154–78Google Scholar.

80 Vogel, Bernhard, “Bericht zur Lage in der Vollversammlung des Zentralkomitees der Deutschen Katholiken am 7. März 1975,” in Berichte und Dokumente, no. 25 (Bonn-Bad Godesburg: Generalsekretariat des ZdK, 1976), 7Google Scholar.

81 B189/18194, KNA, no. 61, March 13, 1976.

82 Militia Sanctae Mariae is the “militant company of the Knights of Our Lady,” an international Catholic confraternity founded in France. In 1968, Bishop Graber of Regensburg established the German chapter. Its website lists three aims: 1) to serve the Church, 2) to defend the faith, and 3) to promote Christianity and faith. The group also stresses Marian devotion. In the 1970s, it was active in the fight against abortion in Germany, France, and Italy. See http://www.militia-sanctae-mariae.org/. Also see Archiv des Zentralkomitees des deutschen Katholiken, ZdK, 2103, 1869, letter from Militia Sanctae Mariae to President of the ZdK and Culture Minister of the Rhineland-Palatinate Dr. Bernhard Vogel, May 25, 1976.

83 ZdK, 2103, 1869, letter to Bernhard Vogel from a Catholic constituent, September 6, 1976.

84 ZdK, 2103, 1869, letter to Bernhard Vogel from a parish priest, November 14, 1975.

85 ZdK, 2103, 1869, letter to Bernhard Vogel from a Catholic constituent, September 5, 1976.

86 Archive of the Katholische Frauengemeinschaft Deutschlands (hereafter KDF), KFD-1158, Sitzung des Ständigen Rates in Würzburg, “Erklärung der deutschen Bischöfe zum Jahr des Kindes 1979” (revised draft).

87 BA, B189/6180, “Zum Jahr des Kindes,” Abendzeitung München, February 10, 1979. The Cartell-Rupert Mayer, founded in 1946 as the Cartel of Christian Lodges, changed its name in 1954. It is a small group with approximately 1,200 members. To this day, it works in conjunction with the Hilfe für Mutter und Kind e. V. to provide women with alternatives to abortion. See http://cartell-rupert-mayer.de/Startseite/Uebersicht.html.

88 BA, B189/6180-149, “Für Mord sind Riesensummen da! Regierung—wie belügst du uns!” Neue Bildungs Post, April 15, 1979.

89 This brief list of newspapers covering Höffner's sermon is by no means exhaustive; see BA, B189/6180-144-149, Presse Ausschnitte.

90 Official government statistics indicated a 30-percent increase in abortion between 1977 and 1978.

91 BA, B189/6180-151-153, letter to the Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Joseph Höffner, from the chair of the SPD in North Rhine-Westphalia, April 23, 1979.

92 Ibid.

93 ZdK, 2103, 1854, no. 1, letter to Helmut Kohl from Bernhard Vogel, April 11, 1974.

94 ZdK, 2103, 1854, no. 1, letter to ZdK President, Bernhard Vogel, May 7, 1974.

95 Sara Wiliarty, Elise, The CDU and the Politics of Gender: Bringing Women to the Party (New York: Cambridge University Press), 22Google Scholar.

96 “Die Diskussion um den Paragraphen 218 ist in Deutschland aufs neue entbrannt,” Die Welt, August 6, 1979.

97 Ibid.

98 BA, B189/6180-173, Joseph Höffner, “Kein Anspruch auf Schwangerschaft,” reprinted in Die Welt, August 6, 1979.

99 Horst Schlitter, “Scharfer Angriff des Vatikans gegen Bonn,” Frankfurter Rundschau, February 14, 1972.

100 Rudolf Augstein, “Römischer Beobachter,” Der Spiegel, February 21, 1972.

101 BA, B189/6180-174, Ingrid Matthäus-Maier, “Legale Abtreibung ist kein Mord,” reprinted in Die Welt, August 6, 1979.

102 BA, B189/6180-182, letter to Cardinal Joseph Höffner from Hans-Jochen Vogel, September 4, 1979.

103 BA, B189/6180-187-188, letter to Cardinal Joseph Höffner from Hans-Jochen Vogel, September 4, 1979.

104 BA, B189/6180-188, letter to Cardinal Joseph Höffner from Hans-Jochen Vogel, September 4, 1979.

105 BA, B189/6180-189, letter to Cardinal Joseph Höffner from Hans-Jochen Vogel, September 4, 1979.

106 “Ich bin nicht Zensor von Kardinal,” Der Spiegel, March 13, 1972.

107 BA, B189/6180-193, letter to Hans-Jochen Vogel from Cardinal Höffner, September 12, 1980.

108 On September 22, 1980, the cover of Der Spiegel depicted Cardinal Höffner with a Strauss campaign button pinned to his bishop's robes. The caption read: “Pastoral letter: The Electoral Campaign from the Pulpit.” Also see John Vinocur, “Bishops Criticize Schmidt's Policy as Election Nears,” The New York Times, September 12, 1980; Elizabeth Pond, “Roman Catholic Church Causes Election Furor in W. Germany,” Christian Science Monitor, September 18, 1980; Bradley Graham, “Schmidt and Catholics Clash,” Washington Post, September 26, 1980.

109 “Das ist geistliche Nötigung,” Der Spiegel, September 22, 1980.

110 Ibid.

111 Helmut Schmidt quoted in “Worte der Woche,” Die Zeit, September 19, 1980.

112 “Das ist geistliche Nötigung,” Der Spiegel, September 22, 1980.

113 “Die Herde denkt anders,” Der Spiegel, September 22, 1980.

114 “Das ist geistliche Nötigung,” Der Spiegel, September 22, 1980.

115 Hanno Kühnert, “Wie im alten Rom,” Die Zeit, March 4, 1983.

116 See Bösch, Frank, Macht und Machtverlust. Die Geschichte der CDU (Munich: Deutsche-Verlags-Anstalt, 2002), 240–45Google Scholar. For a history of CDU women politicians in the immediate postwar era, see Holz, Petra, Zwischen Tradition und Emanzipation. Politikerinnen in der CDU in der Zeit von 1945 bis 1957 (Sulzbach-Taunus: Ulrike Helmer Verlag, 2004)Google Scholar.

117 Wiliarty, The CDU and the Politics of Gender, 79–108.

118 “Das Fähnlein der Einundfünfzig,” Die Zeit, December 28, 1984.

119 See the addresses of Editha Limbach, Bonn Municipal Council member, and Susanne Rahardt, member of the CDU-Hamburg executive board, to the CDU Party Congress, in “Tagesprotokoll. 32. Bundesparteitag der Christlichen Demokratischen Union Deutschlands, 10. Mai 1984,” 205–08. The Protokoll is available online through the website of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, http://www.kas.de/upload/ACDP/CDU/Protokolle_Bundesparteitage/1984-05-09_Protokoll_32.Bundesparteitag_Stuttgart_1.Tag.pdf.

120 Rowitha Verhüldonk address to the 1984 CDU Party Congress in ibid., 222.

121 Margrit Gerste, “Was will Heiner Geißler? Der Angriff auf Pro Familia war nur ein Vorgefecht,” Die Zeit, July 20, 1984.

122 Address of Editha Limbach to the CDU Party Congress in “Tagesprotokoll. 32. Bundesparteitag der Christlichen Demokratischen Union Deutschlands, 10. Mai 1984,” 205.

123 In response to a letter by the study group of Catholic women's associations in the diocese of Hildesheim, Dorothee Wilms explained why the CDU women rejected the proposal of their conservative male colleagues as well as the dangers posed by that proposal to the CDU's governing alliance with the FDP. See KFD-1169, letter to AG aller katholischen Frauenverbände in der Diözese Hildesheim from Dorothee Wilms, May 21, 1984.

124 KFD-1831, letter to the Central Office of the KFD from W. W. of the Catholic parish office of St. Joseph, Sythen, in the diocese of Munster, July 11, 1984.

125 “ZdK zur Neuregelung des §218,” ZdK-Mitteilungen, no. 221, December 6, 1982.

126 In July, the Rheinische Merkur/Christ und Welt published a series on abortion reform and changing German attitudes. See JHD (Bund der Deutschen Katholischen Jugend, Jugendhaus Düsseldorf), 2.110238-002, “Robben schützen, Menschen töten?” Rheinische Merkur/Christ und Welt, February 24, 1984. The Süddeutsche Zeitung also featured the results of the study; see Hans Heigert, “Robben ja—Kinder nein,” Süddeutsche Zeitung, July 16, 1984.

127 Letter to the editor, Helga B., “Kein Zusammenhang mit Robben,” Süddeutscher Zeitung, July 21, 1984.

128 Excerpt from Hanna-Renate Laurien's speech published in the Südkürier Konstanz under the title “Frauen—von der Kirche nur ‘halbherzig’ begleitet,” Südkürier Konstanz, July 10, 1984.

129 ZdK, KT-Aachen 1984, Presseausschnitte, Heidrun Graupner, “Die Frauen setzen neue Signale,” Süddeutsche Zeitung, July 9, 1984.

130 See Nicole Richardt, “A Comparative Analysis of the Embryological Research Debate in Great Britain and Germany,” Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State, and Society 10, no. 1 (2003): 86–128; see also John A. Robertson, “Reproductive Technology in Germany and the United States: An Essay in Comparative Law and Bioethics,” Columbia Journal of Transnational Law 43 (2004): 189–227.

131 See “Strafrecht: Wahnhafte Beziehung,” Der Spiegel, September 9, 1988.

132 KFD-1177, letter from Anneliese Lissner to Mechthild Höflich, October 19, 1987.

133 Ibid.

134 The ban received prominent coverage in the secular press. See, for example, “Grüne über Maier empört. ZdK-Präsident macht CSU-Wahlkampf auf dem Katholikentag,” Aachener Nachricht, September 11, 1986; “Katholiken wollen Politikern zusetzen,” Kölnische Rundschau, September 12, 1986; Klaus Pokatzky, “Deutscher Katholikentag. Heiter, fromm, und ausprachlos,” Die Zeit, September 19, 1986.

135 BVerfGE 39, 1—Schwangerschaftsabbruch 1, February 25, 1975. See http://www.servat.unibe.ch/dfr/bv039001.html.

136 Hickel, Erika, “Menschenwürde statt Männerwürde,” in Frauen gegen Gentechnik und Reproduktionstechnik. Dokumentation zum Kongreß vom 19-21.04.1985 in Bonn, ed. Die Grünen im Bundestag, Frauenpolitik, AK & Sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung und Praxis für Frauen (Cologne: Kölner Volksblatt Verlag GmbH & Co., 1986), 38Google Scholar.

137 Marina Steinbach, “Der Mythos der Entscheidungsfreiheit,” in Frauen gegen Gentechnik, 111.

138 See Maria Mies, “Reproduktionstechnik als sexistische und rassistische Bevölkerungspolitik,” in Frauen gegen Gentechnik, 44–46.

139 Mies, “Reproduktionstechnik,” 44.

140 The study group consisted of twelve members, six from the Catholic Church and six from the EKD. The thirteen Christian communities that supported the declaration were: Griechisch-Orthodox Metropolie von Deutschland; Bund Evangelisch-Freikirchlicher Gemeinden in Deutschland; Evangelisch-methodistische Kirche; Katholisches Bistum der Alt-Katholiken in Deutschland; Vereinigung der Deutschen Mennonitengemeinden, Europäische-Festländische Brüder-Unität (Herrnhuter Brüdergemeinschaft); Syrisch-Orthodoxe Kirche von Antiochien in der BRD; Evangelisch-altreformierte Kirche in Niedersachsen; Bund Freier evangelischer Gemeinden in Deutschland; Religiöse Gesellschaft der Freunde (Quäker); Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche; Christlicher Gemeinschaftsverband Mülheim/Ruhr GmbH; Die Heilsarmee in Deutschland. See Rat der Evangelischen Kirche Deutschlands and Sekretariat der deutschen Bischofskonferenz, Gott ist ein Freund des Lebens. Herausforderungen und Aufgaben beim Schutz des Lebens, November 30, 1989, http://www.sterbehilfedeutschland.de/sbgl/files/PDF/1989_EKD_und_Deutsche_Bischofskonferenz_Gott_ist_ein_Freund_des_Lebens.pdf.

141 Rat der Evangelischen Kirche Deutschlands and Sekretariat der deutschen Bischofskonferenz, Gott ist ein Freund des Lebens, 11.

142 Deutsche Bischofskonferenz, “Für das Lebens. Pastorales Wort zum Schutz der ungeborenen Kinder,” November 24, 1986, 11: http://www.dbk.de/fileadmin/redaktion/veroeffentlichungen/deutsche-bischoefe/DB38.pdf.

143 Rat der Evangelischen Kirche Deutschlands and Sekretariat der deutschen Bischofskonferenz, Gott ist ein Freund des Lebens, 100.