Abortion in Belgium was fully legalised on 4 April 1990. Abortion is legal until 12 weeks after conception it is required for women to receive counselling at least six days prior to the abortion and to check in with her doctor to monitor her health in the weeks after the procedure. Later abortions are permitted if there is a risk to the woman's life or the fetus shows risk of birth defects. , the abortion rate was 9.2 abortions per 1000 women aged 15–44 years.
1990 liberalisation of abortion laws
Prior to 1990, due to the influences of the Catholic Church, Belgium remained one of the fewEuropean countries where abortion was illegal. However, abortions were unofficially permitted as long as they were registered as "curettage". It was estimated that 20,000 abortions were performed each year. When the law liberalising abortion was enacted, it was controversial to many Belgians. A bill to partially liberalise abortion was first submitted by SenatorsLucienne Herman-Michielsens and Roger Lallemand in early-1990, and despite the opposition of the ruling Christian People's Party, a coalition of the Socialist and Liberal parties in the federal lower house passed a law to partially liberalise abortion in Belgium. The Belgian bishops appealed to the population at large with a public statement that expounded their doctrinal and pastoral opposition to the law. They warned Belgian Catholics that anyone who co-operated "effectively and directly" in the procurement of abortions was "excluding themselves from the ecclesiastical community." Motivated by the strong stance of the Belgian bishops and the fact that he and his wife Queen Fabiola hadn't been able to get children themselves, King Baudouin notified the Prime Minister on 30 March that he could not sign the law without violating his conscience as a Catholic. Since the legislation would not have the force of law without the king's signature, his refusal to sign threatened to precipitate a constitutional crisis. However, the problem was resolved by an agreement between the king and Prime Minister Martens, by which the Belgian government used a constitutional mechanism which declared the king unable to govern, assumed his authority and enacted the law, after which the Federal Parliament then voted to reinstate the king the next day. The Vatican described the king's action as a "noble and courageous choice" dictated by a "very strong moral conscience." Others have suggested that Baudouin's action was "little more than a gesture", since he was reinstated as king just 44 hours after he was removed from power.
