Abortion Is Technically Illegal in Germany — This Is How Women Get Them Anyway
video documentation
Length: 13:15 mins
Director/co-writer: Maria Thrän for VICE Media
Host: Johanna Rose-Jastram
Editing: VICE Media / Editing directed by Maria Thrän
Production: Vice Media 2020/2021 Germany/ US
Editorial direction: Courtney Brooks New York/US
Published: VICE World News May 2022
Host: Johanna Rose Jastram
#mychoice is a video documentary made for VICE World News (US) 20/2021. Thrän co-wrote and directed the video. The topic is the legal situation for pregnant women seeking abortions and abortion providers in a liberal country with surprisingly restrictive abortion laws.
In Germany, abortion is technically illegal under an old law dating back to 1871. However, women can get them for free after an abortion-certifying consultation and a mandatory three-day waiting period in the first trimester. The procedure can only be performed by a certified doctor. Another law prohibits doctors from, for example, promoting abortion procedures on their websites and even publicly explaining them. Due to a new, more liberal government, this was changed in 2022 (at the time of the documentary, it was still in place), but the law on procedure remains the same. (Text: VICE) What does it mean to have an abortion in Germany in 2022? With the narrative protagonist, counselor, and abortion doctor, Thrän try to characterize and document the abortion situation in Germany for better visibility.
ON(e) Distance
Thrän's artistic focus lies at the intersection of visual arts, music, and experimental research. Her works reflect on ecological and social dimensions and always incorporate the diverse relationships between space and body.
ON(e) Distance
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