More than 19,600 abortions were carried out in Belgium in 2023, La Libre reported on Monday.
The figure comes from a biannual report (2022-2023) conducted by 'The National Commission for the Evaluation of the Law on the Voluntary Termination of Pregnancy'.
The number of abortions in the past two years has returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Approximately 18,000 procedures were recorded in 2018 and 2019, before falling to just over 16,500 in 2020 and 2021.
The number then rose again, reaching 18,574 in 2022 and 19,686 in 2023.
Pandemic: Limited access to specialised healthcare
The Commission did not study the reasons behind the decline during the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, it noted that the abortion rate, which is the ratio between the number of abortions and the number of women of childbearing age, also decreased.
This decline could be due to fewer unwanted pregnancies and limited access to specialised healthcare services.
The Commission’s report stated that while women's healthcare activities were maintained during the pandemic, access to specialised care became more complicated.
"The institutions [...] have continued their activities to care for women’ during Covid, but access to care has [...] been made more complicated (refocusing of hospital activities on anti-Covid care, need for authorisation to travel, particularly to cross borders, sometimes longer waiting times in the centres)."
It emphasised the need to ensure access to such care under all circumstances, including during health crises.
Extending the deadline
During the last Federal Government's mandate, a parliamentary majority approved of extending the deadline to terminate a pregnancy from 12 weeks to 18 weeks. The bill was not adopted due to fierce contestation by CD&V.
In the aftermath, a multidisciplinary scientific committee was charged with evaluating the laws on abortion. Its recommendations, published in 2023, advised extending the deadline to 18 weeks minimum.
The committee argued that a 22-week deadline in the Netherlands means that around 400 women travel from Belgium to terminate their pregnancy in the neighbouring country ever year.
The current Federal Government is led by right-wing party N-VA, which is against relaxing abortion legislation any further.
