In Germany, following §218a of the German penal code (StGB), a diagnosis of the presence of a chromosome anomaly or a malformation of the unborn child in the womb is regarded as a medical indication for a termination of pregnancy not being made subject to prosecution.
The legislator has regulated that a termination of pregnancy cannot be considered illegal if "the termination of pregnancy, under the consideration of the pregnant woman's present and future living conditions, is advisable from a medical standpoint in order to avoid the danger for life or the danger of a severe impairment of the bodily or mental medical condition of the pregnant woman"; the formulation "severe impairment of the bodily or mental medical condition" is not being explained further here.

Apart from this medical indication, the law also names two further prerequisites for immunity from prosecution: the termination of pregnancy after criminological indication, which means in such cases where the pregnancy was caused by sexual crime, and the termination of pregnancy after the rule of consultation. So far, a duty to advise had existed only for the latter case of rule of consultation. This has to be carried out by an independent, authorized organisation; the immunity from punishment is, in this case, linked with at least three days time for consideration beginning after the consultation until the conduct of the termination of pregnancy.

With the amendment of the Pregnancy Conflict Law (Schwangerschaftskonfliktgesetz - SchKG) of 13 May 2009, a counselling of the pregnant woman will be obligatory after a medical indication as well, starting on 1 January 2010; this does not apply to cases where the pregnancy has to be terminated in order to avert any acute serious danger for body or life of the pregnant woman.

The decision for an abortion based on data that were delivered by a PND has to be strictly justified with medical indications. An abortion based on the sex of the child is hence not permitted - differing from a case that was reported on in the Swedish media.

A mother of two daughters became pregnant and had an amniocentesis conducted in order to clarify the presence of any hereditary disease. Hereditary diseases could be ruled out; the female sex of the embryo was also determined. Since in Sweden, abortions until the 18th week of pregnancy are not subject to prosecution, the mother had an abortion performed despite the fact that the embryo was healthy. She based this decision on the fact that she was not satisfied with the sex of the baby and repeated this procedure another time.

The second time, the physicians realised the problem of a selection based on the sex instead of diagnostic findings; from a legal perspective, there are, however, no holds in Sweden against such practice, according to the National Board of Health and Welfare in Stockholm.

In contrast to Sweden, a comparable case is unlikely to occur in Germany from a practical view, too, because a termination of pregnancy without medical or criminological indication is immune to prosecution until the 12th week of pregnancy only and a PND, with which an unambiguous determination of the sex is connected, is usually conducted at a later point in time.

An elaborate illustration of the ethical and legal aspects concerning late terminations of pregnancy and PND is provided by: