Commission on reproductive self-determination and reproductive medicine
Prof. Dr. Liane Wörner was appointed to the Commission on Reproductive Self-Determination and Reproductive Medicine on 27.03.2023 by Ministers Prof. Dr. Karl Lauterbach (BMG), Dr. Marco Buschmann (BMJ) and Minister Lisa Paus (BMfFSFJ). The establishment of this commission was already planned at the end of 2021 in the coalition agreement of the ruling coalition of the traffic light government. The experts from the fields of law and health sciences, among others, will examine the possibilities of regulating abortion outside of the Criminal Code, legalizing egg donation and altruistic surrogacy.
Prof. Dr. Maika Böhm, Prof. Dr. Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf, Prof. Dr. Daphne Hahn, Prof. Dr. Paulina Starski, Prof. Dr. Stephanie Wallwiener, Prof. Dr. Bettina Weißer, Prof. Dr. Maria Wersig, Prof. Dr. Christiane Woopen, Prof. Dr. Liane Wörner were appointed to Working Group 1 of the Commission - Possibilities for regulating abortion outside the Criminal Code.
Prof. Dr. Liane Wörner was appointed by the members of the working group as its scientific coordinator and confirmed in agreement with the Federal Minister of Health, the Federal Minister of Justice and the Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. In accordance with §§ 3, 6, 9 of the rules of procedure, she acts as the contact person for the ministerial coordination and the established office, coordinates the preparation, convening, chairing and follow-up of meetings, opens, chairs and closes the meetings and drafts communication documents. In agreement with the experts in the working group, Prof. Dr. Liane Wörner represents the working group externally and accordingly receives inquiries to the working group and passes them on to the working group for discussion.
Inquiries to: office.woerner@uni-konstanz.de
In the course of its activities, the Commission has invited affected interest groups to comment and be heard. The aim of the opinions is to determine the needs of the interest groups that are currently affected by any regulation. In order to ensure the greatest possible transparency, the opinions submitted will be made available here, provided the interest groups have agreed to this.
Report of the Commission for Reproductive Self-Determination and Reproductive Medicine on April 15, 2024 in Berlin
Working group 1, led by Prof. Dr. Liane Wörner, LL.M. (UW-Madison) and Prof. Dr. Frauke Brosius-Gersdorfs, LL.M. (Edinburgh), dealt with abortion.
The commission recommends the decriminalization of abortion (currently §§ 218 ff. StGB), at least in the early stages of pregnancy. It should also be ensured that women can have abortions performed promptly and without barriers in easily accessible facilities. A fundamental illegality, as is currently the case, is no longer tenable.
Abortions from the time when the foetus would also be viable outside the womb should still not be permitted, but need not necessarily be punishable. Exceptions for indications should continue to apply.
Handover of the report by the Commission for Reproductive Self-Determination and Reproductive Medicine on April 15, 2024 in Berlin
Together with the coordinators of working group 2, Prof. Dr. Claudia Wiesemann and Prof. Friederike Wapler, Prof. Dr. Liane Wörner, LL.M (UW-Madison) and Prof. Dr. Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf, LL.M. (Edinburgh), as scientific coordinators of working group 1 of the Commission on Reproductive Self-Determination and Reproductive Medicine, presented the final commission report to the ministers Prof. Dr. Karl Lauterbach, Dr. Marco Buschmann and Lisa Paus yesterday.
The results had already been presented at a federal press conference from 9:00-10:00 am.
The report is available online at: https://www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/kommissionsbericht-reproduktive-selbstbestimmung-pm-15-04-24.html
Publications by Liane Wörner on the subject area
List of publications
on the topic of life protection at the beginning and end of life (as of 2/2024)
Monographs
1. Contradictions in the protection of life under criminal law? - Reflections on a consistent criminal law protection of life before birth in vitro, before birth in utero, in euthanasia and in assisted suicide (habilitation thesis, in preparation at Mohr Siebeck, series Jus Poenale)
Comments
2. Annotation before § 218 to § 219b, in: Wolfgang Joecks/Klaus Miebach (eds.), Münchener Kommentar zum Strafgesetzbuch, Munich 4th edition, volume 4, 2021, Beck-Online
Journal articles
3. The German "Abortion Law", in: Acta Universitatis Szegediensis. (FORVM) Acta Juridica et Politics, pp. 263-288.
4. strike out instead of shaking hands! - On the draft bill of the Federal Ministry of Justice of 17.1.2022 and the government bill of the Federal Government of 9.3.2022 to repeal the ban on advertising abortion (§ 219a StGB), in: Neue Kriminalpolitik (NK) 2/2022, pp. 121-128
5. "Where does ... actually come from?" The current criminal law on abortion, with Jana Teeuwen, in: Ad Legendum 1/2020, p. 57-60
6. bringing forward criminal liability to ensure freely responsible self-determination - Section 217 StGB under scrutiny, NK 2/2018, pp. 157-178
Articles in anthologies
7. abortion in the law of the old Federal Republic of Germany (1949-1990) in a contemporary historical perspective, taking into account the period of upheaval (1990-1995), in: Georg Steinberg/Arnd Koch/Andreas Popp (eds.), Das Strafrecht in der alten Bundesrepublik 1949-1990. Der besondere Teil im zeitgeschichtlichen Spiegel von Gesellschaft und Politik, planned for Nomos, Baden-Baden 2023
8. the triadic motherhood, - not "loan of", but "help to motherhood" -
in: Thomas Windhöfel (ed.), memorial publication for Eberhard Schockenhoff, Duncker & Humblot, 2023, forthcoming
9. Organized euthanasia and dignified dying - a commentary from a German perspective, written in consideration of the far-reaching decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court of 26 February 2020, in: Makoto Tadaki/Gunnar Duttge (eds.), Menschenwürde und Selbstbestimmung in der medizinischen Versorgung am Lebensende, Tokyo 2021, pp. 236-245 (conference proceedings in German only, published by Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2022)
10. a "judgment as an honorary title in the fight for a better law"?, in: Populism and alternative facts, (criminal) jurisprudence in crisis? Farewell colloquium for Walter Gropp, edited by Arndt Sinn/Pierre Hauck/Michael Nagel/Liane Wörner, Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 2020, pp. 353-381
11. Research and the Protection of Life - Questions for Theologians from a Legal Perspective, in: Hanspeter Heinz/Werner Trutwin (eds.), Neue Probleme am Anfang des Lebens. Jews and Christians in Dialogue with Ethics, Law and Medicine (2013), pp. 53-58, available here
12. Penal Theory and the Protection of Life - The Human Dignity Argument and its Inconsistencies in German Criminal Law, in: Arndt Sinn (ed.), Menschenrecht und Strafrecht, Beiträge der 4. Tagung des International Forum on Crime and Criminal Law in the Global Era (IFCCLGE) in Beijing 2012, Göttingen/Osnabrück 2013, pp. 25-36, available here
13. between punishable abortion and "abortion coercion", in: Susanne Beck (ed.), Does my body still belong to me? Criminal legislation on the authority to dispose of one's own body in the life sciences, Baden-Baden 2012, pp. 315-34
Case law contributions/reviews
14. punishable offering of abortions, comment on OLG Frankfurt/M., decision of 22.12.2020 - 1 Ss 96-20, StV 6/2021, 372-376
15. punishable advertising for the termination of pregnancy, comment on AG Gießen, judgment of November 24, 2017 - 507 Ds 501 Js 15031/15, NStZ 7/2018, 416-419
Miscellaneous
16. interview in the Apotheken Umschau with Liane Wörner from 19.04.2024
17. interview in the taz with Liane Wörner from 15.04.2024
18. interview "Only a ban does justice to life", legal scholar explains why abortion is only permitted in exceptional cases / Section 219a: "Compromise likely", by Annekatrin Bertram, in: Gießener Anzeiger, 12/12/2017, p. 15