German Caritas Association President Eva Maria Welskop-Deffaa disputes the portrayal of a lack of doctors in rural areas performing abortions, saying it is overemphasized. “It’s generally difficult to find doctors, regardless of whether for an abortion or a gallbladder examination, in the countryside today” she told the Tagesspiegel (Wednesday edition).
She questioned the phenomenon of some abortion doctors not being able to retire due to a lack of replacements in a wide area, saying, “I have the impression that this is overemphasized in public presentation.” As the head of the German welfare organization of the Roman Catholic Church, she emphasized the legal obligation of the states to ensure the availability of abortion services and urged them to comply with this obligation.
Welskop-Deffaa defended the current legal situation against the efforts to find a parliamentary majority for the legalization of abortions, saying, “I’m disappointed in the short historical memory of those who want to change the current regulations. They act as if we still had a law like in the 1970s.” She added, “Fortunately, that’s not the case.”
Regarding a Forsa survey showing that 74% of the population support legalization, she believes that many people have a false understanding of the current legal situation and demand the repeal of Paragraph 218 only because of that misconception. She thinks it is difficult to find a better balance between the rights of the mother and those of the unborn child.
According to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the number of doctors performing abortions has decreased from 2,030 in 2003 to 1,100 in 2021, with some of the smallest distances to the nearest abortion doctor being over 100 kilometers.