Research

Although extensive research has been conducted on abortion trajectories and associated barriers in the UK and the US, no such studies have been conducted in Belgium. The country nevertheless presents a unique case: each year, between 200 and 600 women are denied abortion on request due to the gestational age limit. This raises fundamental ethical and legal questions that fuel ongoing public and political debates about extending the legal limit for abortion care and revising the mandatory waiting period. To inform these ongoing policy debates, it is essential to situate abortion trajectories within the broader social context of Belgium and to explain the occurrence of delays in such trajectories. We conducted qualitative interviews with 29 women who had completed an intake consultation at a Dutch-speaking abortion center in Flanders or Brussels. Proceeding from a constructionist perspective in analyzing the qualitative data, we aimed to build representations of multiple lived realities. Our findings demonstrate that abortion trajectories do not proceed in a linear path, but are constructed through the complex and multi-layered processes of pregnancy awareness and decision-making on abortion. These trajectories are shaped by a dynamic interplay of pre-existing perceptions, structural factors, and personal experiences, rather than following a straightforward, linear path to abortion care.

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.