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abhatia · Joined: 26 Jan 2011 Posts: 37

Paragraph 218 would have disrupted the creation of a coherant, unified nation.

knaide · Joined: 27 Mar 2012 Posts: 6 Location: United States

Considering the large movement against paragraph 218, and my own opinions on contraceptives and abortion, I agree that paragraph 218 would have disrupted a unified nation.
I was shocked to read that a German woman underwent abortion an average of 2 times in her lifetime, despite it being illegal (pg. 175) This made me realize that paragraph 218 was extremely destructive to the Weimar Republic, and the only reasoning for it was less than a paragraph on page 174. Women had suffrage, and could totally effect political elections and turn tables on the different parties in the Republic, and it is hard to understand why politicians wouldn’t try and cater to the masses of women who opposed this law.
I kept expecting Hitler and the NSDAP to come up in this reading and explain how they managed to gain so many female voters when he emphasized the same values mentioned on page 175. Did he somehow manage to change all of their minds? That seems impossible.

Maddy King · Joined: 28 Mar 2012 Posts: 9

The controversy surrounding abortion in Germany during 1931 caused the unity of feminists, communists, and socialists. If Paragraph 218 had been passed, it would have torn apart these newly founded coalitions as well as an already broken Country. The part of this reading that truly stuck out to me was the fact that the people making these decisions and advocating for Paragraph 218 were all men. The people this would have directly effected had no official say in the matter. The government thought they knew what was best for the "women in need" (174). This law "united liberal and radical lawyers, doctors and other intellectuals, Social Democrats, Communists, and thousands of women of all classes and many parties" (176). As I reading this I was amazed by the range of supporters against Paragraph 218, and how they could put their differences aside and unite for one cause. In the US I do not know liberals and conservatives will ever fully agree on abortion rights.... Which is interesting because Germany was able to unite during a time when everyone felt extreme pressure.

zozomp · Joined: 03 Apr 2012 Posts: 5

I agree with Maddie, that passing paragraph 218 would have further divided the broken country. But rather than the different groups unifying, liberals, radicals, ect. what was interesting to me was that almost reflected in the womens' struggles for freedom, "the right to control her own body" (175), the conundrum that women faced, is very telling of other situations in Germany at the time. For instance on page 174 it is mentioned that the issue for women themselves, especially in 1929-1933 was the hard double edged problem of the number of jobs for women in particular decreasing vastly, while at the same time the number of children expected from them, in order to help fix that exact situation increased drastically. This push pull that women faced, can be seen in many other spheres of life and politics in Germany. For example in the political system's balance of power. When the elections between the many political parties happened almost every three years, and new coelitions had to be formed constantly, and values given up or comprimised.

echalmers2012 · Joined: 27 Mar 2012 Posts: 7

I definitely agree with what Maddy had to say about the major decisions being made my men about Paragraph 218. I also saw this happening regardless of the unity that feminists and socialists showed, as well as the KPD. I felt that KPD was more concerned with it's agendas as a political group, then supporting the human rights of women. I felt that it wasn't necessarily about treating women as equals, but supporting other motives that would support their agendas. I saw this on pg. 77 "The KPD's primary target was not the family or the sexual division of labor within the family, but the hypocrisy of bourgeois morality and social and economic conditions that threatened the well-being of the proletarian family." However, I would also agree that the unity shown by differing political groups was inspiring, certainly does not happen here, and definitely think it contributed to the unity of the German people.

dkim2012 · Joined: 27 Mar 2012 Posts: 9

Paragraph 218 was written on men's points of view which mean paragraph 218 did not really consider women's opinions and thoughts. Of course, life of baby who living in women's body is important; however, women who are pregnant have first choice whether doing abortion or not. Women should think about their own health, and their jobs. If they had to take care of babies, they would have been much more difficult for women. Since women strongly disagree with passing Paragraph 218, there would have been a lot of conflict if Paragraph 218 had been passed in Germany. It would have been harder for Germany to cohere well during weimar republic. If women had an equal amount of power that men had, then this bill would have not existed due to women's opposition. Men should respect women more.

Evan · Joined: 02 Apr 2012 Posts: 5

In agreeance with most of what has been said here. i definitely agree with ellery in saying that the KPD was not focused primarily on women's rights. Had the 218 been passed, you would have seen a great divide in the nation... much like the divid in the U.S today. However the effects are much more controlled today due to the lack of a multitude of parties, and the chaotic nature of Weimar politics.

fbeaubrun2012 · Joined: 27 Mar 2012 Posts: 9

the 218 definitely caused a divide. Within a government that wasn't the most stable, things were made more difficult when people bagan forming coalitions to fight against paragraph 218. What it DID unite were doctors and lawyers and intellectuals. "In a period in which the leaderships of the Social Democratic and Communist parties were attacking each other as the primary enemy, and the fabric of what remained of Weimar democracy was unraveling daily, the demand for reform of the abortion law united, in a unique and extraodinary way fashion, liberal and radical lawyers, doctors and other intellectuals..."(176) The fight for paragraph 218 unified those who were in favor of it and those who were against it, but it did not unify the nation.

kscrimshawhall12 · Joined: 27 Mar 2012 Posts: 6

As I was reading this article, I thought back to our discussion about political and social agendas. In my group we decided that the difference was that political agendas were about influencing people as a whole while social agendas were more about influencing individuals in society. As I brought up in class, the issue of reproductive rights should be a social issue, but it is instead a political one (both in Weimar Republic and present day). Paragraph 218 interferes with a basic right women should have and makes what should be a social issue into a political one.
This is problamatic because it adds unnecessary stress to a government system that is already failing. Reproductive rights shouldn't need to be talked about. It should be a given. When there are people barely finding food it seems silly to have the main focus be on an issue that should have been resolved a while ago.

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