Abortions dropped to a historic low in 2021 in Germany, with about 4,000 fewer unborn babies aborted than the previous year.
Evangelical Focus Europe reports the reasons for the drop are not clear, but many believe pro-life efforts to educate society about the humanity of unborn babies and support pregnant mothers in need contributed to it.
According to the official German statistics organization Destatis, 94,596 unborn babies were aborted in 2021 – a 5-percent drop from the approximately 99,000 abortions in 2020.
Most unborn babies were aborted for purely elective reasons. Only about 4 percent of the abortions in 2021 were due to dangers to the mother’s life or health or because she was a victim of rape, according to the statistics.
The 2021 number represents a historic low for the country. Around the turn of the century, about 130,000 unborn babies were aborted every year, Evangelical Focus reports.
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Abortion is legal in Germany up to 12 weeks of pregnancy and later when there are risks to a woman’s physical or emotional health. A mandatory counseling appointment followed by a three-day waiting period are required before a woman can have an abortion.
The country also prohibits abortion advertising, but new Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his government coalition want to repeal the long-standing ban. They claim that killing unborn babies in abortions is “part of reliable health care.”
But pro-life and religious leaders are refuting these claims. In March, German Catholic Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller condemned abortion in an interview, saying killing unborn babies is “the most heinous crime against life.”
