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Lettering: Up to Date, queer and feminist calendar of the Equal Opportunities Office of TU Dortmund University © Borgschulze​/​TU Dortmund
September 28

International Safe Abortion Day

On Safe Abortion Day, women and people of childbearing age around the world show solidarity in the fight for self-determination and the legalization of abortion.

The day was first launched in the 1990s in Latin America and the Caribbean by feminist groups under the name "Campaña 28 Septiembre". They called on governments to decriminalize abortion, demanded safe access to abortions and an end to social stigmatization (September28 2019a). To date, abortions are prohibited in almost all Latin American and Caribbean countries, with the exception of Cuba, Guyana, Puerto Rico and Uruguay (Guttmacher Institute 2018).

In 2011, the Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) made Safe Abortion Day a global day of action with its support. With the help of the WGNRR, the day now also draws attention to the situation of pregnant persons in Asian, African and European countries (WGNRR 2020).

Numerous demonstrations and information events are also taking place in Germany on September 28 to campaign for safe abortions and the abolition of Section 218 (Safe Abortion Day). Paragraph 218 of the German Criminal Code (StGB) states: "Anyone who terminates a pregnancy is punished with a prison sentence of up to three years or a fine."

Following numerous reforms, abortions are now exempt from punishment in the first 12 weeks (but still not legal), provided the pregnant person can provide proof of counseling from a recognized agency. These counseling centers are legally obliged not to provide neutral advice, but to work towards ensuring that the abortion is not carried out (StGB § 219). Section 219a StGB, which regulates the "ban on advertising" for abortions, was repealed by the Bundesrat in 2022 (Die Bundesregierung 2022).

There were already progressive laws on abortion between 1972 and 1992. The so-called "time limit model" allowed pregnant persons up to the 12th week of pregnancy to decide freely whether to have an abortion. In the Federal Republic of Germany, an attempt to introduce a time limit model failed in 1975 (bpb 2015). The GDR's time limit model was abolished in 1995 by aligning it with the strict West German law. This means that abortions are still criminalized in Germany today (MDR 2020).

The number of gynecologists performing abortions in Germany has decreased significantly since 2000; while there were still 2,030 facilities in 2003, there were only 1,106 at the end of 2022 (Leidinger 2023). Due to the low number of qualified doctors, the few practices are overcrowded. Pregnant persons often have to wait several weeks for an appointment and are harassed outside the surgeries by supporters of the Christian "pro-life movement". Those affected usually have to pay the costs of several hundred euros themselves (Eßlinger 2021).

Resistance to Section 218 and Section 219 StGB has existed since their introduction. The resistance from women's movements, feminist groups and medical professionals is constantly trying to raise awareness on the issue and to change the legal situation politically as well as through activism.

As recently as February 2025, representatives from over 30 civil society organizations handed over an urgent appeal to members of the SPD, Grünen and Linke Party in front of the German Bundestag. This included two petitions with more than 300,000 signatures. An inter-party bill to decriminalize abortion was brought before the Bundestag's Legal Affairs Committee on the same day, but was blocked by the CDU/CSU and the FDP (Campact 2025).

 

Status: August 2025

Sources (in German)

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