Gynecologists in Germany fined for abortion advertising

BERLIN – A German court has fined two gynecologists for violating a ban on advertising abortions, the first such case to be tried since the rules were loosened earlier this year.

The Berlin district court on Friday fined the two women 2,000 euros ($2,250) each because their practice’s website offered “medicinal, anesthetic-free” abortion “in a protected atmosphere.”

In January, Germany’s governing coalition agreed to let doctors and hospitals state that they perform abortions but did not allow them to advertise further information.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s junior governing partners, the centre-left Social Democrats, had wanted to remove the ban — which can carry a sentence of up to two years in prison — from Germany’s criminal code. But Merkel’s centre-right party insisted it should stay.