The Christian Democratic and Flemish party, which is part of the coalition government in Belgium, was previously opposed to changing abortion laws, but has now said that it will support increasing the abortion time limit from 12 to 14 weeks and cutting the current six-day reflection period to 48 hours.
Currently, abortion is legal on demand in Belgium until the unborn child has reached 12 weeks gestation, but the Christian Democratic and Flemish party has now said it wants to change the law so abortion will be available for unborn children up to 14 weeks.
The current law in Belgium requires a waiting period of six days between an initial consultation and an abortion taking place, in order to ensure that the mother has had enough time to consider all the options available to her. The Christian Democratic and Flemish party is supporting reducing this six-day waiting period to 48 hours.
The Belgian pro-life group, CLARA, has criticised the changing of abortion legislation.
Many doctors in Belgium appear to have extremely strong pro-abortion views, with 9 out of 10 Belgian physicians surveyed in Flanders supportive of “after-birth abortion” or infanticide for babies with a disability, according to a 2020 survey.
A poll of healthcare professionals in Flanders, Belgium found 93.6% of physicians surveyed “agree that in the event of a serious (non-lethal) neonatal condition, administering drugs with the explicit intention to end neonatal life is acceptable.”
Right To Life UK spokesperson Catherine Robinson said “It’s a real disappointment that the Christian Democratic and Flemish party have now totally changed their position on protecting unborn children from abortion, and now want to change the law to allow abortion for babies between 12 and 14 weeks as well as reducing the current consideration period to 48 hours. This will likely see the lives of many more babies lost to abortion in Belgium.”
