Author Date

2024-05-29

Degree Name

BA

Department

Germanic and Slavic Languages

College

Humanities

Defense Date

2024-05-28

Publication Date

2024-07-29

First Faculty Advisor

Hans-Wilhelm Kelling

First Faculty Reader

Michelle James

Honors Coordinator

Christian Clement

Keywords

reproductive law, eugenics, feminism, Germany, abortion

Abstract

German abortion law is restrictive for a Western European nation of strong economic standing and with relatively liberal social policy. Additionally, Germany is one of few Western European nations without an embryopathy indication, which allows for exceptional abortions in cases of fetal defects. The law (as it stands in 2024), has been immeasurably shaped by two ideologies, eugenics and feminism, and by modern Germany’s consideration of both the ideologies themselves, and of how they influenced the reproductive policies of the twentieth century. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the influences of eugenics and feminism on German reproductive law in the Nazi and Reunification periods and in Germany today, and thereby explain the unique state of German reproductive law. Analysis of primary and secondary source material revealed that eugenic ideology has less influence on German reproductive policy today than in either the Nazi or Reunification periods, however, recently developed prenatal testing technologies have made selective abortions both possible and prominent under German law, which can be considered an application of eugenic thought. The influence of feminism on shaping reproductive law is stronger today than in earlier periods, however, the liberalization efforts by feminists are resisted by Germany’s fear of repeating the problematic (and eugenic) reproductive policies of Nazi Germany and, to a lesser extent, West Germany. A key implication of this study is that Germany must strike a balance between abandoning eugenic policies, and further liberalizing its abortion law to meet the demands of a growing body of German feminists.

Download

Share

COinS