Trajectories toward abortion care in Flanders, Belgium
In light of the current social and political debate about a possible revision of Belgian abortion legislation, there is a growing need for empirical evidence on how women experience their trajectory to abortion care. Discussions about extending the legal limit and revising the mandatory waiting period are taking place in the context of international evidence stressing the psychosocial, medical, and logistical implications of restrictive abortion regulations. Within this context, this study aims to offer an in-depth understanding of how abortion trajectories are shaped in Flanders and what factors determine their course. Specifically, we analyzed the average duration of each stage in the abortion trajectory, the barriers women experience in each phase, and how these are related to the overall time course and the moment of presenting for abortion care. In addition, we examined how women subjectively experience these trajectories, including the meaning they assign to the different stages, their perception of the barriers present, and their perspective on the legal waiting period and the organization of abortion care.