Women’s organizations campaigned last week for a relaxation of abortion legislation. — © BELGA
At Groen’s initiative, the seven government parties have tried to find an agreement on abortion. But that fizzled out (again).
Will abortion remain possible within twelve weeks of pregnancy, as it is now, or will it be expanded to eighteen weeks? Six of the seven government parties support such an expansion, but CD&V continues to oppose it.
At the initiative of Groen and Ecolo, a majority consultation took place on Wednesday afternoon to find an agreement. The coalition agreement states that the seven majority parties must be unanimous on this – something that then CD&V chairman Joachim Coens had included at the time to avoid a rotating majority.
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However, the consultation now became a waste of time. The gap between CD&V and the six other parties remains the same. According to several attendees, CD&V maintained its position that it wants to expand to a maximum of fourteen weeks. The other parties, on the other hand, continue to stick to eighteen weeks. An expert group and the Flemish abortion centers had previously requested this. Another track in the majority consultation was to make some other adjustments to abortion legislation, in addition to the legal term, as a compromise. But that proposal also failed.
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Changing majority
“We want to keep talking to reach an agreement before the elections,” says Green MP Eva Platteau. But the chance of success is very small: the gap is not closing. Moreover, the opposition party PVDA can still throw a spanner in the works. He has submitted his own bill in Parliament to extend the period to eighteen works. It cannot be ruled out that some of the Vivaldi parties will go along with this if it comes to a vote. There may already be an agreement not to form a rotating majority, but the closer the elections approach, the more fragile that agreement becomes.
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