Since the formation of the Federal Government in 2020, the Flemish Christian-democratic CD&V party had refused to vote on relaxing Belgium's abortion legislation. The party has now agreed to ease the law, but to a limited extent.
During the government formation talks in 2020, relaxing the abortion laws was a red line for CD&V, complicating the negotiations. The party eventually became part of the government and pushed the issue aside, ordering a study on a possible relaxation of the law.
That study is now ready with the scientific committee suggesting that the time limit within which abortion is allowed be increased from 12 weeks to 18 or even 20. The six-day so-called "reflection period" should also disappear.
Not following experts' advice
In Belgium, abortion has been legal under certain conditions since 1990: in principle, a pregnancy must be terminated before the end of the 12th week after conception. Those wishing to have an abortion also have a mandatory reflection period of six days.
There is also an obligation to also discuss adoption options. A doctor or pregnant woman who fails to comply with the legal conditions for abortion still risks a specific fine or even imprisonment.
While CD&V has now agreed to a relaxation of those laws, they do not want to go as far as the experts suggest. The party advocates raising the period within which abortion is allowed from 12 to 14 weeks. They also do not want the six-day reflection period to disappear, but to shorten it to 48 hours.
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CD&V stressed that the government should focus more on avoiding unwanted pregnancies, hence their proposal to make long-term contraception such as the IUD (Intrauterine device) free for all. However, other contraceptives such as condoms or the pill are not included in the proposal.
The positions of the other parties in the Federal Government largely align with the scientists' report: socialists PS and Vooruit, liberals Open VLD and MR and greens Groen and Ecolo already submitted a bill to relax the abortion laws during the previous legislature – which was then also blocked by CD&V.
On Tuesday, the Federal Parliament will debate the scientists' report.
