On June 24, 2022, the German parliament, the Bundestag, decided to abolish the punishment of advertising for abortions. From a gender policy perspective, this can be considered a success, although the decision cannot eliminate stigmatization and still growing hurdles in the practical implementation of the procedure. On the same day on the other side of the Atlantic, the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated women’s rights for abortions. Deprived of their reproductive self-determination through this court verdict, many women are now likely to find themselves in illegal and threatening situations.
In Germany, too, the political implementation of the abolition of §219a StGB has been accompanied by massive public and media opposition. Proclaimed opponents of abortion have not shied away from closing ranks with right-wing anti-feminists and conspiracy ideologists in order to support their worldview and ideology. Internationally, we can observe that the clout of anti-feminist organizations is increasing; they are very well connected and networked across borders and seek proximity to parliaments. They gather in right-wing populist and right-wing conservative parties, in the camp of Christian anti-abortionists, in men‘s rights movements and in misogynist Internet forums. They form political majorities and governments.
Together with Cynthia Miller-Idriss, an US-American sociologist, Leni Breymaier, a member of the German Bundestag, Kamila Ferenc, a Polish women‘s rights activist and together with you we would like to discuss recent developments of anti-feminist networks in Europe and the USA and their connection to the German debate about the abortion paragraph 219a. How is it possible that in democracies with firmly established principles of equality, political movements are successful that attract attention through sexist and misogynistic behavior, hypermasculine performance, and anti-feminist politics?
Responsible
Dr. Ursula Bitzegeio
Gender Equality & Gender
+49(0)228 883-7150
ursula.bitzegeio(at)fes.de
Organisation
Katharina van Zanten
Gender Equality & Gender
+49(0)30 - 269 35 7319
katharina.vanzanten(at)fes.de
Leni Breymaier is the SPD Parliamentary Group Spokesperson for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. Previously she was a member of the party executive committee from 2017 to 2021. She has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2017 and, in the field of women's and equality policy, is particularly committed to equal pay, reform of the taxation of families and marriages, and equal representation in parliament.
Dr. Cynthia Miller-Idriss is a Sociologist and Professor at the American University in Washington, DC, where she is also the founding director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL). In 2022, she is serving as the creative lead for the A. von Humboldt Foundation’s residency program on social cohesion in Berlin. Dr. Miller-Idriss regularly testifies before the U.S. Congress and briefs policy, security, education and intelligence agencies in the U.S., the United Nations, and other countries on trends in domestic violent extremism and strategies for prevention and disengagement.
Kamila Ferenc is an activist, advocate, lawyer and program director of the Foundation for Women and Family Planning Federa and the Co-founder of the Foundation Against Rape Culture. She leads court cases - often pro bono - concerning women's rights, reproductive rights and discrimination and defends people arrested during human rights demonstrations.
Dr. Ursula Bitzegeio & Franziska Schröter, Department Democracy, Society and Innovation, FES
Cynthia Miller-Idriss, Sociologist and Professor an the American University in Washington D.C.
Leni Breymaier, Member of the Bundestag, Parliamentary Group Spokesperson for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth
Kamila Ferenc, activist and program director of the Polish Federation for Women and Family Planning Federa
More on the gender policy work of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.