GERMANY – German Bundestag rejects draft laws regulating assisted suicide – assisted suicide still possible
23 August 2023
Guest article by Sandra Martino*
On 6 July 2023, the German Bundestag voted on two legislative proposals to “newly regulate” assisted suicide and on a motion to strengthen suicide prevention. The two legislative proposals were rejected, the motion to strengthen suicide prevention was adopted. With the rejection of the two legislative proposals, assisted / accompanied suicide continues to be possible in Germany, within the same framework as this has been the case since February 2020, when the German Federal Constitutional Court declared void §217 of the German Criminal Code (“geschäftsmässige Förderung der Selbsttötung” / prohibition of repeated and thus professional assistance in suicide), introduced in 2015. The following guest article by DIGNITAS-Germany summarises the events surrounding the rejected legislative proposals.
On 26 February 2020, the Federal Constitutional Court declared the prohibition of repeated and thus professional assistance in suicide under §217 of the German Criminal Code to be unconstitutional and void**. According to the judgment, §217 disproportionately restricted the exercise of the right to a self-determined end of life and the freedom to seek help from third parties for this purpose, and thus made them factually impossible. Respect for this right to self-determination, however, collided with the state’s duty to protect the autonomy of those wishing to end their life and to protect life. In order to resolve this conflict, the Federal Constitutional Court granted parliament the freedom to “develop a framework of procedural safeguards” in paragraph (RN) 340 of the judgment. However, “any legislative restriction of assisted suicide must ensure that sufficient scope remains in practice for the individual to exercise their constitutionally protected right to depart this life based on their free decision and with the assistance of others” (RN 341).
Corresponding efforts to regulate again assisted suicide were not long in coming. As early as March 2020, the federal government announced that it was “striving for a new legal regulation following the recent judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court on assisted suicide”, whereupon numerous statements and contributions from associations, organisations, churches, and experts were submitted by invitation of the Federal Ministry of Health. On 21 April 2021, the Bundestag discussed possible new regulations on assisted suicide in an orientation debate. As a result, three legislative proposals to “regulate” assisted suicide and a cross-party motion to strengthen suicide prevention (proposal no. 20/1121) were submitted. The proposal of the group around MP Lars Castellucci (20/904) aimed to reintroduce the criminalisation of repeated and thus professional assistance in suicide, with narrow exemption rules, through what would actually have been a new edition of the unconstitutional and void §217. The two other drafts of the group around MP Katrin Helling-Plahr (20/2332) and the group around MP Renate Künast (20/2293) pursued an approach outside of criminal law to legally secure the right to a self-determined end of life. After further orientation debates, readings, and hearings in the Bundestag and in various committees, there were calls this spring for a vote on the legislative proposals before the parliamentary summer recess, which led to vehement criticism from various sides.
On 6 July 2023, two legislative proposals on assisted suicide and a motion to strengthen suicide prevention, all of which had passed the legal committee just the day before, were finally put to the vote. The two more liberal drafts by the Helling-Plahr group and the Künast group had been merged by the committee at the request of the two groups. The third draft of the Castellucci group had passed the committee in an amended version (20/7624). Neither of the two legislative proposals to “newly regulate” assisted suicide received a majority:
Legislative proposals on assisted suicide – Bundestag, 6 July 2023
Votes by party (proposal Castellucci and others):
Votes by party (proposal Helling-Plahr / Künast and others):
Only the motion to strengthen suicide prevention was adopted by almost all MPs with 687 yes to 1 no and 4 abstentions. As honourable as the aims of this motion seem to be, utmost care must be taken to ensure that access to self-determination over one’s own end of life is not surreptitiously restricted as a result.
The debate on the various legislative proposals and the associated media coverage have left many people uncertain about what will now apply after the vote in the Bundestag. For this reason, the legal advisor of DIGNITAS-Germany has written a “Clarification of facts regarding assisted dying”, which can be downloaded here (available in German only).
___
* Sandra Martino is 1st chairperson of the association DIGNITAS-Deutschland e.V.
** BVerfG, Judgment of the Second Senate of 26 February 2020 – 2 BvR 2347/15 -, paras. 1-343
