The problem is not the peaceful pro-life advocates but the political elite, which allows itself to be manipulated by the abortion lobby and, for ideological reasons, refuses to accept the current legal situation and the court rulings on this matter. Instead, peaceful and Christian-motivated pro-life advocates should be placed under general suspicion and criminalized by law.

With these clear words, Tomislav Čunović, a Frankfurt lawyer, Executive Director of 40 Days for Life International, and Counsel for the American Institute of Law and Justice, commented on the federal government's draft law during an expert hearing in the German Bundestag. The opening statement is available here.

On Monday, May 13, 2024, a group of 12 experts and representatives of all parties represented in the Bundestag gathered in Berlin. The subject of the hearing was the opinions of various experts on the German federal government's draft law, which aims to massively restrict or even completely ban the presence and activities of pro-life advocates within a 100-meter radius of pregnancy counseling centers and abortion clinics, with fines of up to 5,000 euros for violations.

Čunović made it clear that this draft law violates fundamental principles of German constitutional law in several ways and disproportionately restricts the freedom of assembly of peaceful pro-life advocates.

The essence of freedom of assembly is that it grants everyone the right to decide for themselves the place, time, content, and manner of the assembly, as long as it is peaceful. And this is the case here.

Čunović pointed out that the issues at hand had already been resolved in several court cases up to the third instance, and it was determined that the peaceful prayer campaigns of 40 Days for Life never posed a danger.

In this regard, the decision of the highest German administrative court – the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig – on May 23, 2023 (file number: BVerwG 6 B 33.22) is particularly relevant. It clarified that the general ban on area assemblies in front of abortion clinics is inadmissible and that a pregnant woman cannot claim absolute protection from confrontation with the assembly's topic on her way to the counseling center.

Čunović emphasized: The problem is not the peaceful pro-life advocates but the political elite, which allows itself to be manipulated by the abortion lobby and, for ideological reasons, refuses to accept the current legal situation and the court rulings on this matter. Instead, peaceful and Christian-motivated pro-life advocates should be placed under general suspicion and criminalized by law.

In the subsequent question-and-answer session, Čunović reiterated that the peaceful praying pro-life advocates posed no danger and that contrary claims by pro familia had been repeatedly refuted in court.

When asked about a legal conflict of interest of pro familia, Čunović further clarified that pro familia has a significant conflict of interest according to § 8 of the Pregnancy Conflict Act due to its business ties with the four major pro familia abortion centers and the international abortion organization International Planned Parenthood Federation. This provision states that a counseling center cannot be recognized if it is organizationally or economically linked to a facility where abortions are performed in such a way that a financial interest in abortions cannot be excluded. It is now up to pro familia to clear this suspicion; otherwise, it could lose state recognition and funding. Čunović urged the present members of parliament and experts to take this warning seriously and investigate it.

In conclusion, at least two other legal experts also severely criticized the draft law. In particular, the renowned constitutional lawyer from the University of Bonn, Professor Dr. Hillgruber, pointed out that the federal government lacks the legislative competence for this project. However, most of the experts were uncritical or even supportive of the draft law and are ready to undermine German assembly law.

It is noteworthy that the pro familia representative could not name a single case of alleged harassment during the hearing, despite repeatedly making this accusation. The statement from the representative of the organization donum vitae, which also operates about 200 pregnancy counseling centers in Germany, was even clearer. She reported that in recent years, there had not been a single case of harassment of pregnant women in front of donum vitae counseling centers.

Thus, it seems clear that there were no harassments and that everything was based on manipulative statements by pro familia.

This will likely mark the end of the draft law in its current form, as such a law, even if passed, would not stand up in court.

The full hearing can be accessed on the website of the German Bundestag, where the statements of the 12 experts have also been published.

In this context, we will soon delve into the individual statements of the experts in detail. Stay tuned.

Video from the Bundestag Mediatek (in German)

Written and more complete version of the statement of Mr Čunović