Conservatives Plan to Abolish Late-Term Abortion

The CDU/CSU parliamentary group spokesman for women's affairs, Johannes Singhammer, said the conservative alliance "would change the scandalous practice in Germany."

Speaking in an interview with the Bavarian daily newspaper, Münchner Merkur, Singhammer said there were plans in motion to present a draft law banning late-term abortion to the German parliament as early as next year.

"No sensible human being can remain calm when a child, which could live, is aborted shortly before its birth, just because it is handicapped," Singhammer said.

He added that the law was originally introduced for women whose life was considered to be at risk from a pregnancy, but that it is now much more widely used in order to prevent bringing handicapped children into the world.

"We must urgently rethink the value of life," he said.

Ulla Ellerstorfer, the vice chairwoman of Pro Familia, an independent nationwide association that offers advice on issues of sexuality, pregnancy, childbirth and parenting, rejected Singhammer's demands.

She said that cases where late-term abortions are performed are "extremely rare" cases of "human tragedy."