Activists as Agents of Change? Reproductive Power and State Selectivity in Germany

Elisabeth Wiesnet
Hochschule München

Abstract

This paper examines the Germany-specific regulation of abortion as “unlawful, yet exempt from punishment” if a strictly prescribed procedure is followed. Drawing on a grounded theory approach, it analyses the interpretations and self-positionings of activists who have played a crucial role in bringing this ongoing criminalization onto the public and political agenda in recent years. The interviewed activists perceive the field of abortion as deeply shaped by struggles over reproductive power. Within these struggles, the state prioritizes population-political, religious, and sexist positions that structurally constrain women ’s reproductive self-determination. The activists, in turn, interpret their own role as a necessary and powerful counterweight to this state order. This self-positioning is analytically examined as both a politically functional strategy and a potential form of activist self-overestimation.

Presentation