Germany Jails Gynecologist Who Performed 79 Illegal Abortions
A gynecologist in the predominantly Roman Catholic state of Bavaria was jailed for 2 1/2 years Friday for performing illegal abortions.
In an eight-month trial dubbed a “witch hunt” by its critics, Horst Theissen, 50, was charged with carrying out at least 79 illegal abortions between 1981 and 1987.
He said he knew he was breaking the law but did so because of his clients’ distressing circumstances.
West German law allows for a pregnancy to be terminated only when a second doctor agrees it is socially or medically necessary. In rural, strongly Catholic areas of southern Germany, abortion is virtually unobtainable.
The prosecution questioned 79 witnesses on the circumstances of their abortions, to establish whether they could have kept the baby or given it up for adoption.
Critics of the trial said it was the women who appeared to be on trial, not Theissen, and former Health Minister Rita Suessmuth said the court violated their privacy.
The radical Greens party said the verdict was a major setback for women and doctors.
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