Katrin Helling-Plahr
Katrin Helling-Plahr in 2019
Member of the Bundestag
Assumed office
2017
Personal details
Born (1986-04-02) 2 April 1986 (age 37)
Hagen, West Germany
(now Germany)
Political partyFDP
Children2

Katrin Helling-Plahr (German pronunciation: [kaˈtʁiːn ˌhɛlɪŋˈplaːɐ̯, ˈkatʁiːn -]; born 2 April 1986) is a German lawyer and politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been a member of the Bundestag since the 2017 election.

Early life and career

Helling-Plahr was born in Hagen. From 2005 to 2011, she studied law at the University of Münster.[1] Since 2013 she has been practicing as a lawyer. From 2014 to 2015, she completed a postgraduate LL.M. program with a focus on medical law at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf.[2][3]

Political career

Early beginnings

Helling-Plahr joined the FDP in 2005. From 2011 to 2014, she served as deputy chair of the party's youth organization, the Young Liberals.

Member of the German Parliament, 2017–present

Helling-Plahr has been a member of the German Bundestag since the 2017 federal election, representing the Hagen – Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis I district. In parliament, she has been serving on the Committee on Legal Affairs (since 2018) and the Committee on Health (2018–2021). From 2018 to 2021, she was also a member of the Subcommittee on Global Health and the Committee on the Election of Judges (Wahlausschuss), which is in charge of appointing judges to the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany. Since 2022, she has been serving on the parliamentary body in charge of appointing judges to the Highest Courts of Justice, namely the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), the Federal Administrative Court (BVerwG), the Federal Fiscal Court (BFH), the Federal Labour Court (BAG), and the Federal Social Court (BSG).[4]

As a health expert, Helling-Plar has been working on issues such as egg donation and surrogacy[5] and assisted suicide.[6][7] Since the 2021 elections, she has been serving as her parliamentary group's spokesperson for legal affairs.[8]

In the negotiations to form a coalition government between the SPD, the Green Party and FDP following the 2021 elections, Helling-Plahr was part of her party's delegation in the working group on equality, co-chaired by Petra Köpping, Ricarda Lang and Herbert Mertin.[9]

Other activities

Political positions

Along with Karl Lauterbach, Swen Schulz, Otto Fricke and Petra Sitte, Helling-Plahr was one of the authors of a cross-party initiative in 2021 to liberalize the legal framework for assisted suicide in Germany.[11][12]

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, Helling-Plahr joined forces with six other parliamentarians – Dirk Wiese, Heike Baehrens, Dagmar Schmidt, Janosch Dahmen, Till Steffen and Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann – on a cross-party initiative in 2022 to support legislation that would have required all adults to be vaccinated.[13][14]

Personal life

Helling-Plahr is married to lawyer Alexander Plahr. The couple has two children.[15]

References

  1. ^ "Deutscher Bundestag - Katrin Helling-Plahr". Deutscher Bundestag (in German). Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  2. ^ Bernhard Walker (9 September 2020), Gesetz im Bundestag: FDP-Frau sucht Verbündete beim Thema Sterbehilfe Stuttgarter Nachrichten.
  3. ^ Tim Szent-Ivanyi (1 January 2020), „Die Legalisierung der Leihmutterschaft ist überfällig“ RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland.
  4. ^ Mitglieder mehrerer Gremien gewählt Bundestag, 27 January 2022.
  5. ^ "Medizinpsychologin: Leihmutterschaft sollte legalisiert werden". evangelisch.de (in German). Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  6. ^ "German Health Minister blocks suicide aid to terminally ill: report". Deutsche Welle. 19 February 2019. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  7. ^ Zuzanna Szymanska (29 January 2021), German lawmakers propose new law on assisted suicide Reuters.
  8. ^ FDP-Fraktion: Besetzung Sprecherposten FDP Group in the German Bundestag, press release of 14 December 2021.
  9. ^ Britt-Marie Lakämper (21 October 2021), SPD, Grüne, FDP: Diese Politiker verhandeln die Ampel-Koalition Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung.
  10. ^ Board of Trustees Stiftung Forum Recht.
  11. ^ Günther Neufeldt (26 February 2021), Sterbehilfe - Keine Garantie, aber weniger Hürden ZDF
  12. ^ Cornelia Schmergal (22 February 2021), Neues Sterbehilfegesetz: Warum kämpft eine 34-Jährige für das Recht auf einen selbstbestimmten Tod? Der Spiegel.
  13. ^ Gesetzentwurf angekündigt - Ampel-Abgeordnete wollen Impfpflicht ab 18 ZDF, 21 January 2022.
  14. ^ Riham Alkousaa (26 January 2022), German lawmakers debate compulsory COVID shots as infections surge Reuters.
  15. ^ Mike Fiebig (18 June 2021), Hagen: Auf dem Drei-Türme-Weg mit Katrin Helling-Plahr Westfalenpost.
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