By Stefan Anderson

Last Thursday, around 1,000 protestors gathered opposite the American embassy in Brussels to voice their anger at the Supreme Court’s decision to revoke the right to abortion from American women, and demand swift action from the Belgian government to enshrine this right at home. The decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has sent shockwaves around the world, highlighting the precarity inherent to women’s rights’ vulnerability to reactionary, traditionalist political swings. With the right to abortion yet to be completely decriminalised and legislated into the constitution in Belgium, people’s worries are on the rise.

Laws around access to abortion in Belgium, though broadly permissive, are far from reaching the standards of fellow EU members like the Netherlands, where over 400 Belgian women travel to seek an abortion every year. The primary reason necessitating these trips is Belgium’s 12-week limit on abortion access (the Netherlands allows them until 22 weeks), after which abortions are only allowed under exceptional circumstances, such as diagnosed fetal defects, or if the life of the mother is in danger. Once these twelve weeks have elapsed, it remains technically illegal to receive an abortion in Belgium.

Voluntary termination of pregnancy is still present in the country's penal code, listed under the archaic statues 350 and 351 as “a crime against the order of families and public morality”, punishable by both fines and prison time. A 2019 report by the Center for Secular Action found that 7 out of 10 Belgians, and 8 out of 10 young people, are unaware that pregnancy termination remains in the country’s criminal code. Though no prosecutions have been pursued under these statues, the dangers of such laws falling into the wrong hands are readily apparent to non-governmental observers. Isabella Lenarduzzi, founder and managing director of JUMP, a Brussels based consultancy focused on equality between women and men in the workplace, draws the parallel to the US justices’ promises at their confirmation hearings that Roe v. Wade was settled precedent. “Our politicians say they aren’t against abortion, but as soon as they are in power, who is stopping them from changing the laws?”, she explains, “they aren’t vocalising it now because they know it to be unpopular, but the moment power is in their hands, expect a very different tone to be struck”.

Placed in European perspective, Belgium’s abortion laws plant it firmly in the middle of the pack on the question of reproductive rights. Although the general trend across the EU has been one of liberalisation, notably Ireland’s recent progress in 2019, some member states have committed themselves to backsliding on the issue of female bodily autonomy, raising alarm bells for women across the continent.

In 2020, Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal voted to invalidate the constitutionality of abortion access on the grounds of “severe and irreversible fetal defect or incurable illness that threatens the fetus’ life”, a decision described by Amnesty International as “the result of a coordinated systematic wave of attacks on women’s human rights by Polish lawmakers”. In Hungary, under the guise of its traditionalist, “pro-family” rhetoric, Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party has taken aim at further restricting reproductive rights in the country, whose laws requiring mandatory counselling and waiting periods have already been denounced by the United Nations and the World Health Organization for stigmatising abortion and undermining fundamental human rights. 

“The recent developments in Poland and Hungary, as well as the decision of the US Supreme Court, may create dangerous precedent for restricting women’s reproductive rights in Europe, and across the world", explained Marcela Valkova, a member of the Committee on Equal Opportunities in the European Commission and co-leader for Women of Volt, a subset of the pan-European political party Volt Europa. "The EU and its member states must live up to their stated fundamental values, under which the right of women to access to a safe abortion is guaranteed", she explained, "women must have a right to decide what to do with their own bodies, and no government should make the decision for them about whether to become a parent or not". 

While Belgium has shown no signs of following the course set by Hungary and Poland, the experience as a woman seeking an abortion in Belgium is far from perfect. Charline, a cis-gender woman who received an abortion a few years ago, highlighted the problems with Belgium’s mandatory 6-day “reflection period”, a forced delay women must adhere to after requesting to terminate a pregnancy. “The law doesn’t take into account the individual experience of the person taking the decision: whether they need to think about it or not, or whether they already have”, she explained, “for my part, I had already thought long and hard about this decision, and I was thinking to myself: who do they think they are?”. While 75% of Belgians believe that the decision to terminate a pregnancy belongs to the woman, it remains a taboo topic in daily life. “You feel and carry the social stigma”, Charline said, “the guilt is really an issue that gets relegated to people who have a uterus, and that much seems completely ridiculous”.

Belgium’s medical infrastructure supporting abortion access has its own share of problems. Anna, who works in the family planning sector, described her first-hand experience with the imperfections of the Belgian system. “Even today in Belgium it can be complicated to find doctors who are properly trained”, she explained, “there are many centers that find it hard to meet demand because they do not have enough available appointments, and lack the proper funding to meet people’s needs”. Equality of access, Anna says, can also be disproportionate. “The government needs to know that there are still scenarios where people have to pay for these treatments, which raises the question of equality. So, from the perspective of the family planning sector, we aren’t where we need to be in Belgium”.

Attempts at progress on the issues of full decriminalisation, the 12-week limit, and the reflection period, have been stifled by three of the country’s largest political parties: the N-VA, Vlaams Belang, and the CD&V. The law put forward by the PS, the French speaking socialist party, would remove pregnancy termination from the penal code, extend the allowance period to 18-weeks, and reduce the mandatory reflection period to 48 hours. From the outset of parliamentary debates on the bill in 2019, shock value was in abundant supply. Els Van Hoof, a representative for the CD&V, the Flemish Christian-democrat party, voiced her opposition saying, “throwing away a fetus is not the same as throwing away a condom”. To date, the coalition of parties opposing the bill has managed to postpone voting 8 times.

While the CD&V now finds itself in the rainbow “Vivaldi” coalition assembled under Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, a pre-condition for their accession to the governing arrangement was the guarantee that their hand would not be forced on cultural issues by their more liberal partners. As a result, the party now holds an effective veto over any potential abortion legislation or reform. When contacted by La Libre about their stance on enshrining the right to abortion in the constitution in view of the Roe v. Wade decision, the party continues to tread very carefully. “Abortion is a women's right for which we must continue to fight”, said the spokesperson for the CD&V’s new president, Sammy Madhi.

As the last chants of “my body, my choice!” echoed off at the peaceful and convivial end to the demonstration, it was clear the protestors in attendance had their eyes on the future. Sarah, a 36-year-old woman from Belgium, had come with her husband and three-year-old daughter. “It was really important for us that she was present today”, she said, “it’s important for us that even at a young age, she sees that no right is ever easily acquired, especially when it comes to the rights of women. Everything is an ongoing battle”. Asked about her experience with the decision to have a child, Sarah highlighted the deep planning and thought that goes into taking the leap to start a family. “When I decided to have my child, it was a measured, carefully thought-out decision; a free decision”, she explained, “I believe women should be allowed to live their lives by their own rules, and I hope this is a right that continues to be afforded to women in Belgium”.

Asked if she had any last words, Sarah answered, “the fight continues”.

Aborion laws across the EU. Source: Study by the Center for Reproductive Rights