Alfred Rockenschaub (1920-2017)

Alfred Rockenschaub, gynaecologist, long-standing head of medicine at the Semmelweis clinic, one of Vienna’s foremost gynaecological departments, is seen as the ‘father’ of the decision to opt for a time-limit approach to abortion regulation in Austria and played a crucial role in abortion liberalisation. It is thanks to his decisive action that abortion in Austria is regulated on the basis of time-limits, rather on the basis of indications as it is in Germany. It was under Minister of Justice Dr Christian Broda that abortion was finally legalised in Austria in 1974.