Joachim Volz's struggle to perform abortions

Gynaecologist Joachim Volz is a chief physician in a hospital in Lippstadt, a town with a population just under 70 thousand, situated in Nord-Rhine-Westphalia, halfway between Cologne and Hanover. He took his employer to court because he was ordered to no longer offer abortions, a service he had been able to provide to his patients since 2012, when he had started working in the clinic. The reason: his hospital merged with two catholic clinics and the new co-owners imposed their strict anti-abortion policy on the Lippstadt clinic – and ruled that as a figurehead for their clinic, Joachim Volz also had to stop offering abortions in his private practice.Recently, the regional labour court decided formally partially in favour of Joachim Volz. I discuss why the ruling is a difficult victory and what's at stake in Germany with Sarah Gonschorek, a feminism activist and member of the board of the North-Rhine Westphalia chapter of the German Council of Women's Organizations, and with Sophia Anders . She’s the daughter of Joachim Volz and herself a senior gynaecologist at a German University hospital.My interviewees:Sarah Gonschorek (personal homepage)Sophia Anders - (University Hospital Ulm profile)Background material (in German)online petition in support of Joachim Volzthe 2024 survey on opinions about abortions (commissioned by the German Ministry for Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, PDF)LinkedIn post by Joachim Volz about his case