Federal government must create framework for abortion reform, says MR leader
The next federal government must create a framework for a series of reforms on ethical issues, such as the extension of the abortion law, and include it in the coalition agreement, MR leader Georges-Louis Bouchez said during the opening lecture of the political science course at Ghent University.
N-VA leader Bart De Wever has been trying to form a government with liberals MR, Les Engagés, Vooruit and CD&V since the summer, but these talks have now been put on hold ahead of Sunday's local elections. One of the ideological points of contention between the parties is ethical issues: surrogacy, euthanasia in cases of dementia and abortion.
Abortion in the spotlight
Abortion in particular has been a hot topic. A few weeks ago, the MR voted in the Chamber of Representatives against extending the time limit for voluntary abortion to 18 weeks. On Tuesday, Bouchez said he was in favour of extending the abortion limit, but that the parties had agreed to discuss the issue during government negotiations.
Bouchez also said the coalition agreement should not spell out the details of the reform. "These are sensitive issues that touch on everyone's personal privacy (...) It is not up to the [party] leaders to decide this and impose it on parliament".
However, the parties must agree on a framework within which parliament can debate. Bouchez did not say what that framework should be.
"These are sensitive issues that touch on everyone's personal privacy (...) It is not up to the [party] leaders to decide this and impose it on parliament"
Of the negotiating parties, socialists Vooruit are in favour of extending the abortion law. Les Engagés and MR let their MPs vote freely, while N-VA have more reservations. CD&V is heavily opposed to an extension: the Christian democrats did not want to go beyond 14 weeks in the last legislature, and CD&V MP Nawal Farih said in parliament last month that her party would "never agree" to an 18-week deadline.
Protesters disrupt lecture
The start of the lecture was interrupted by a small pro-Palestinian and Lebanese protest. A number of young people took to the stage and accused Bouchez of supporting genocide.
The protesters referred to a quote by Bouchez about the exploding pager attack in Lebanon a few weeks ago. He described the attack, which killed 37 people, including innocent civilians and children, as "genius" and "an extremely intelligent way of doing things".
"The death of children does not leave me indifferent," Bouchez said, adding that "if you have to endure hundreds of rockets on your territory every day, should you wait and see? They have carried out a targeted operation with civilian casualties, but do you know of any war in history where there were no civilian casualties?"
"If you have to endure hundreds of rockets on your territory every day, should you wait and see?"
The protest lasted about five minutes, after which Bouchez was able to continue his presentation.
#FlandersNewsService | © BELGA PHOTO DIRK WAEM / BELGA VIDEO MAARTEN WEYNANTS
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