BERLIN >> An independent experts commission recommended Monday that abortion in Germany should no longer fall under the country’s penal code and be made legal during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Currently, abortion is considered illegal in Germany but not punishable if a woman undergoes mandatory counseling and a three-day wait period before she has the procedure.

Germany’s progressive government coalition of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’ Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats, had tasked the experts commission a year ago to look into the issue of abortion, which has been a hotly debated topic over decades.

Germany’s approach to abortion has been more restrictive than in many other European countries. Some German women have traveled to neighboring countries such as the Netherlands — especially during later phases of their pregnancies when abortion is considered completely illegal in Germany except for very grave cases — to have abortions there.

Other European countries are in very different places in their approach to abortion. France, for example, inscribed the guaranteed right to abortion in its constitution last month, in a world first and a powerful message of support to women around the globe. Meanwhile, Poland’s parliament held a long-awaited debate last week on liberalizing the country’s law, which is more restrictive than Germany’s, although many women terminate pregnancies at home with pills mailed from abroad.

While the German commission’s recommendation for the government to decriminalize abortion is non-binding, it is likely to heat up discussion over the issue in the country again. It could eventually also lead to the current regulation being reformed by parliament, but at this point it is not clear if and when that would happen.

Many women who have had abortions in Germany have described the mandatory counseling as humiliating, while others have said it helped them in their decision-making.