The Basic Law says that members of the Bundestag are an Aufträge und Weisungen nicht gebunden und nur ihrem Gewissen unterworfen, not bound by orders and instructions, and subject only to their conscience. On some questions, the party leaders ask every member to decide freely. In the week before 30 June 2017, Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the vote on marriage for same-sex couples should be such a decision of conscience. On 30 June the Bundestag passed the law by 393 votes to 226, with 4 abstentions. At least 70 members of Merkel’s own CDU/CSU group, almost one in four, voted yes. Merkel herself voted no. Für mich ist die Ehe im Grundgesetz die Ehe von Mann und Frau. For me, marriage in the Basic Law is the marriage of a man and a woman.