AfD on families

The AfD wants to change the content of the mandatory counseling before an abortion and give mothers more support during pregnancy and after birth. In the platform's view, the counseling has often become a mere formality that says too little about the consequences of an abortion and about available help.

Women must go to counseling before an abortion. The AfD says this counseling is often too shallow. It wants to change it. Women should learn more about consequences and help. Mothers should get more support.

The platform refers to current law, under which an abortion in the first three months after counseling goes unpunished. The AfD believes pregnant women are not adequately informed about serious consequences of abortion and about support services. Women should be able to decide without outside pressure and without fear. Help is to be available especially in hard situations, such as when a partner or family gives no support.

The AfD wants to raise the quality of daycare centers (Kitas). Municipalities are to get more help with building new ones, and the state would pay for additional childcare workers. This is meant to expand all-day care and prevent sudden closures.

The AfD wants better daycare centers. Towns should get more help to build them. There should be more childcare workers. The state should pay for them. Centers should stay open longer and not close suddenly.

According to the platform, many places lack spots or quality falls short. More staff is planned mainly for children under three, because caring for them takes a lot of time. In rural areas, opening hours should also take parents' long commutes into account. Families are to get care close to home that stays reliable even when a childcare worker is sick.

The AfD wants to extend reimbursement of school travel costs to upper secondary students and those in their first vocational training. The state would cover the extra costs for municipalities. This is meant to ease the financial burden on families.

Parents today get money back for younger children's trips to school. This does not apply to the upper grades. The AfD wants to change that. Trainees in their first apprenticeship should get it too. The state should pay.

So far, parents can apply for reimbursement for elementary and secondary school students, but not from upper secondary level onward. In the future, the entitlement would last until the Abitur (university entrance diploma) or the end of a first apprenticeship. The platform cites the connexity principle, under which the state compensates municipalities for costs it assigns to them.

The AfD wants to create more regional child protection services that help children after sexual violence or abuse. Every city and every county is to have at least one easily reachable contact point.

Child protection services help children who have suffered violence. The state has 16 of them today. The AfD wants more. Every city and county should have at least one. Children should not have to travel far.

According to the platform, there are currently 16 such services in the state, which advise and support boys and girls. The AfD follows the motto that children should only have short distances to cover. It calls protection from sexual violence and abuse a task for society as a whole. Growing up without violence is, it says, a precondition for a happy childhood and mental health later in life.