Munich calls for fewer hurdles to abortion access on Safe Abortion Day

The City of Munich is calling for reliable access to abortion and for bureaucratic hurdles facing doctors to be removed. The city made the call to mark International Safe Abortion Day on 28 September.

Mayor Verena Dietl said: "Women must be able to make self-determined decisions about their own bodies. That includes being able to reach doctors promptly once they have decided to have an abortion, and receiving good medical care. Munich has important services in this area, which are also used by many women from the surrounding region, because there and in other parts of Bavaria such services are either not available or only available to a limited extent. But reliable care must not depend on where you live."

The city's Health Department says Bavarian state rules on outpatient abortions in particular need reform. Under the Public Health Service Act, outpatient facilities in Bavaria need a separate licence if they want to carry out abortions. As part of this, the Public Health Service checks requirements including premises, hygiene, staffing and emergency plans. There are also special documentation requirements for medical abortions.

Health Officer Beatrix Zurek said: "Practices that want to offer abortions are made to face unnecessary difficulties through additional licensing and documentation requirements. Requirements for quality and patient safety are of course necessary. But we should review additional bureaucratic hurdles that do not apply to comparable outpatient treatments. That way we can ease the burden on practices and the Public Health Service while also making access to medical care easier."

To mark the day, the Health Department and the Equal Opportunities Office for Women are holding a reading and panel discussion on reproductive health and bodily self-determination at the City Hall on Monday. It will focus on the book "The Patriarchy in the Uterus – A Plea for Bodily Self-Determination" by gynaecologist Dr Alicia Baier, co-founder of Doctors for Choice Germany. The event is already fully booked.