57 senators voted in favour, 17 against. It concerns a private member’s bill that was drawn up by former D66 MP Pia Dijkstra. After her departure from the House of Representatives last year, the defense was taken over by Jan Paternotte. PvdA, GroenLinks and VVD joined the defence. The Rutte IV coalition agreement stipulates that no blockade will be placed against this bill or against any other proposal to have the abortion pill dispensed by the general practitioner.
In the Senate, the Nanninga, PvdA, GroenLinks, D66, SP, Party for the Animals, Otten, VVD, 50Plus and Frentrop fractions collectively voted in favour. This time the CDA voted divided. Four CDA members were in favour, four against. In addition, the PVV, SGP, CU and Forum were collectively against. The amendment to the law will probably be introduced on January 1, 2023.
Vote at your own discretion
The proposal received a large majority in the House of Representatives, with 101 votes in favor and 38 against. Because this is a medical-ethical issue, MPs do not vote according to the group guideline but at their own discretion. Against were BBB, SGP, ChristenUnie, FVD, the CDA, seven members of the PVV, two members of the VVD, two of JA21 and MP Pieter Omtzigt.
It is the first major amendment to the Abortion Act that came into effect 40 years ago. Until then, abortion had been formally banned, but in the 1970s the practice was tolerated in a number of hospitals and abortion clinics. Attempts to legalize abortion failed in the 1970s. The threat of closure of the Bloemenhove abortion clinic then led to heated debates.
In the early 1980s, the VVD and the CDA reached a compromise whereby abortion was allowed in clinics and hospitals, provided the unwanted pregnant woman observed a mandatory reflection period of five days between the request for an abortion and the execution.
Unnecessarily patronizing
Opponents saw this reflection period as unnecessarily patronizing already when it was introduced: as if an unintentionally pregnant woman would lightly ask for an abortion. Amendments to the law were not considered by the purple cabinets in the 1990s under Prime Minister Wim Kok (PvdA). In the decades that followed, Christian parties such as the CDA and CU always blocked the adjustment if they participated in a cabinet.
D66 MP Pia Dijkstra submitted a private member’s bill a year ago to delete the mandatory reflection period. Under the new law, the mandatory standard cooling-off period of five days will expire. Instead, a reflection period will be given, in consultation between the woman and the doctor, for as long as it is deemed necessary by them to arrive at a well-considered and careful decision.
VVD, PvdA and GroenLinks joined Dijkstra’s proposal. The coalition agreement of the VVD, D66, CDA and CU stipulates that no blockades will be put up against private member’s bill proposals such as this proposal on the reflection period.
This also applies to the proposal on the provision of the ‘abortion pill’ by the general practitioner to unintended pregnant women at an early stage of pregnancy. That proposal also received a majority in the House of Representatives, 106 votes in favor and 24 votes against from SGP, ChristenUnie, DENK, FVD, BBB, and nine from the PVV. The Senate will consider this proposal after the summer.