Image: Abortion is a fundamental right.
On 18 July this year, the Belgian Times published an article which claimed that the: “Belgian Parliament passed a set of amendments to the country’s 1990 abortion law on 18 July 2024, based on a set of amendments proposed in 2023 by an expert group. These included increasing the legal limit for voluntary terminations from 12 to 18 weeks post-conception and eliminating the mandatory reflection period of six days, finally acknowledging that someone with an unwanted pregnancy does not need six days to make up their mind.”
We duly published this report in the Campaign newsletter on 26 July.
Except that they didn’t change the law, the vote never took place. The article we quoted was published the same day as the vote was supposed to take place, so they would have corrected the report that evening or the next day, which we were not looking for. (Mea culpa, Editor)
Then there was a national election, and the numbers for and against the law reform changed in line with it. Some were still hoping to take a vote but….
On 24 September, the news agency Belga reported that “Abortion reform in Belgium has been put on hold as federal government negotiations between the five potential coalition parties continue. It was decided to withhold parliamentary approval of specific proposals unless all five negotiating parties reached a consensus. The intention was to simplify the talks but it will also stall several key legislative reforms, including extending the period in which an abortion can be carried out.”
The five parties – N-VA, Vooruit, CD&V, MR and Les Engagés – introduced the decision in a bid to prevent tensions from complicating their talks. The abortion question, as well as reforms unrelated to abortion, have also proved divisive in the past few weeks.
SOURCE: Belga News, Abortion reform on hold as federal coalition negotiations continue. 24 September 2024. Photo from an earlier
SEE ALSO: Belga News, Abortion centres ask government to modernise abortion law, 24 January 2024.