Germany's Catholic bishops yesterday bowed to pressure from the Pope to stop issuing certificates that allow women to have an abortion. The bishops agreed to remain within the state-funded system of pregnancy advice clinics but decided to modify the official certificate to specify that it could not be used to terminate a pregnancy.
German women are allowed to have an abortion within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy on condition that they attend a counselling session at an officially approved advice clinic. The Catholic Church runs 270 of the country's 12,000 clinics, counselling 10,000 women each year.
The bishops' decision follows a letter from the Pope urging them to stop issuing certificates that entitle women to have an abortion. The bishops agreed after a two-day meeting in the southern town of Wurzburg to continue the certificates but to add the following sentence: "This certificate cannot be used to procure a legal abortion".
It was not clear yesterday if the state would continue to recognise such certificates but the Greens, who share power in Bonn with the Social Democrats of the Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder, described the bishops' decision as bigoted.
The Family Minister, Ms Christine Bergmann, said that the decision lacked clarity and would add to the psychological burden on women with problem pregnancies.
For their part, Germany's doctors described the proposed certificate as worthless and said that gynaecologists would not accept it as a legal basis to perform an abortion.
"It would be an illegal abortion," said Dr Bernd Hugle, chairman of the country's leading doctors' organisation.
Previously, the wording on church certificates was milder: "The issuing of this certificate does not in any way mean the termination of this pregnancy is accepted."
The Vatican welcomed the bishops' decision, which Dr Karl Lehmann, chairman of the German Catholic Bishops' Conference, claimed was an ideal solution to the problem of Catholic participation in the state-funded counselling system.
"We are following the Pope's request insofar as we are remaining within the pregnancy advice system and adding a clarifying statement to the document. In this way, the church is also taking account of its competence, independent of the state, to decide on its own affairs," he said.
He insisted that the Pope had never suggested that the church should withdraw from the state system but that the modified certificate would reflect Rome's commitment to the sanctity of unborn life from conception.
According to a report to be published in today's edition of the weekly magazine, Stern, the government is likely to withdraw funding from Catholic pregnancy advice clinics on the grounds that, if they do not issue valid certificates, they are not fulfilling their statutory function.
Germany's abortion law demands that there should be one pregnancy advice clinic for each 40,000 citizens. The Catholic Church provides 15 per cent of these clinics but in some southern states, half of such clinics are operated by the church. One woman in four who attends a Catholic advice clinic chooses to continue her pregnancy to its full term.
Ms Christel Hanewinckel, a parliamentary leader in Mr Schroder's Social Democrats, said the bishops were being "hypocritical". "The church skilfully avoided an open conflict with the Pope," she said. "At the same time, the church will continue counselling women and collecting state funding for it."
