[Pregnancy termination in which the child would have been able to survive].
The reform of paragraph 218 (dealing with abortion) of the German Penal Code has caused the formerly embryopathic grounds for abortion to be subsumed within the medical grounds for abortion. This has led to the temporal limit on those cases in which a pregnancy is terminated on medical grounds due to foetal malformation to fall away. This state of affairs must be rated differently with respect to children with grave defects not able to survive and those with minor defects who would be able to survive. In the latter cases a regulation on a time limit or limits that took account of the ability of the unborn child to survive is called for. In addition, in the case of children that would have been able to survive feticide by injection of medication is recommended.
Dudenhausen
Joachim W
JW
Klinik für Geburtsmedizin, Charité, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Berlin. Joachim.dudenhausen@charite.de
D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000592:standards; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy