PRESS RELEASE

During the Christian Lent starting on February 14, 2024, tens of thousands of people worldwide will once again pray and fast publicly for life as part of the ecumenical prayer initiative "40 Days for Life" until March 24, 2024.

Participants pray to God that pregnant women will bring their children into the world instead of aborting them. The prayers will again take place in Munich and Stuttgart in front of abortion clinics, and in Pforzheim, Stuttgart, Passau, and Frankfurt am Main in front of the abortion organization pro familia.

The prayers are always peaceful and lawful. The recent accusation by the Family Minister Lisa Paus (Green Party) in the media, claiming that the demonstrations pose a danger to pregnant women, is not true.

So far, there has not been a single incident at these demonstrations where pregnant women were actively approached, harassed, or otherwise pressured.

This is known to the authorities, the police, and the courts and is thus documented. Therefore, last year, the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig declared a general ban on prayer and assembly within shouting and sight distance of pro familia in Pforzheim to be unlawful, as it disproportionately interferes with the right to freedom of assembly of the praying people.¹

Considering this current court decision of the highest German administrative court, buffer zones around abortion organizations and clinics - as proposed in the draft law of January 24, 2024, to amend the Pregnancy Conflict Act - would be impermissible. As such, this legislative initiative is doomed to fail in its current form, as it blatantly ignores the existing factual and legal situation.²

This legislative initiative questions the principles of German assembly law and is incompatible with a free and tolerant societal order.

The accusations made by Family Minister Lisa Paus against peacefully praying individuals, who are usually Christian women with a migration background, are deliberately misleading and serve to publicly discredit and criminalize a Christian minority. In doing so, the minister knowingly accepts that these prayer meetings become targets of extremist attacks again, as has been the case several times in the past.³

In Frankfurt am Main, these prayer meetings could often only take place under police protection for years.

Even in view of this discriminatory and intolerant attitude towards public and peaceful prayer meetings, our response remains peaceful prayer. We, therefore, invite all people of good and peaceful will to join our prayer concern "40 Days for Life", either in front of abortion clinics, at home, or in churches.

We wish you a blessed and contemplative Lent!

Frankfurt am Main, February 13, 2024
Tomislav Čunović, Attorney, Managing Director of 40 Days for Life International

NOTES

1 BVerwG, Beschluss vom 23. Mai 2023 - 6 B 33.22, https://www.bverwg.de/de/230523B6B33.22.0

2 https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/german-govt-plans-to-restrict-pro-life-activism-in-front-of-abortion-facilities/
3 https://www.idea.de/spektrum/drei-linksextreme-angriffe-auf-christliche-lebensrechtler

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