Poll commissioned by abortion centres: 54 percent favour a limit beyond twelve weeks
Sixteen organisations seize on the LUNA survey to call for eighteen weeks in an open letter.
A survey of 2,523 people, commissioned by LUNA abortuscentra vzw, finds that 54 percent of respondents favour a longer abortion limit, most of them at least eighteen weeks, Newsmonkey reports. According to Het Nieuwsblad, 85 percent believe an abortion after rape should be possible up to eighteen weeks. Nine in ten say the decision about an unwanted pregnancy lies with the pregnant person. The survey used hypothetical situations; those who answered 'don't know' were not counted among supporters or opponents.
Current law allows abortion up to twelve weeks after conception, with a mandatory six-day reflection period. Opinions on that waiting period are divided: 53 percent want to keep it in the law and 30 percent do not, according to Newsmonkey.
Sixteen feminist and civil society organisations are calling in an open letter for the legal limit to be raised from twelve to eighteen weeks, HLN reports. A scientific expert committee had already recommended a limit of at least eighteen weeks, but that advice stalled politically, VRT NWS wrote earlier. A caveat: the figures come from a poll commissioned by the abortion centres themselves.