Court Restricts Chief Physician Joachim Volz's Abortion Practice Amid Catholic Hospital Management Dispute

In Hamm, North Rhine-Westphalia, a significant legal ruling has shaped the abortion rights of Prof. Dr. Joachim Volz, chief physician involved in a dispute with the Catholic Church managing his hospital. The Landesarbeitsgericht (Regional Labor Court) ruled that the Catholic-run hospital's prohibition on performing abortions within its premises was lawful, thus barring Volz from conducting such procedures there. However, the court simultaneously upheld his right to perform abortions in his private practice.

This decision followed the hospital's management transition to the Catholic Church, which led to the ban on abortion procedures at the facility. Volz had previously performed medically indicated abortions at the Evangelical Hospital Lippstadt before the takeover. The court's judgment highlighted complex legal questions rather than moral judgments, with Judge Dr. Guido Jansen emphasizing that the court’s function was to address legal aspects specifically.

The ruling sparked considerable public attention, with around 500 demonstrators rallying in support of Volz, including Green Party politician Ricarda Lang. Volz himself openly condemned the labeling of abortion as a sin, stating at a public gathering on the Hamm marketplace near an evangelical church: “I am a doctor and not a murderer. And my work is not a sin.”

Volz’s legal representatives referenced a recent Federal Constitutional Court ruling affirming doctors' diagnostic and therapeutic freedom as pivotal to their lawsuit. Volz emphasized the critical medical responsibility doctors hold, arguing against restrictions that could deny women necessary care, potentially endangering their health or lives.

Following the judgment, Volz described the outcome as a substantial victory for his patients, although further legal options are being considered pending receipt of the full written ruling. The case remains a focal point in ongoing debates over medical ethics, legal boundaries, and abortion rights within German Catholic healthcare contexts.