Pierre Moonens
Speeches:
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A good law is not enough
Pierre Moonens MD, Member of the Board of the “Fédération de Centres de Planning Familiaux”, member of the Board of “Gacehpa”, Belgium. Co-founder and Vice President of Fiapac
In my daily work at a southern family planning of Belgium, a third of our clients are coming from Luxemburg. They do not find an opportunity to be aborted in their own country. This situation is very surprising: the Luxemburg’s law is very similar to the Belgian one, and any way those women should find the possibility to be helped by their own medical structures, but it does not work.
Why is it so?
Which “bad reasons» do give the possibility to those medical structures not to apply their law?
Even in Belgium, we do not use all the potentialities of our so said “good law”.
What did we loose in Belgium with the introduction of our so said “good law”, in comparison with the previous so said “bad obsolete law”?
How has it be possible in Spain, with such a weak law, to develop a so “liberal” situation for women asking for abortion?
Some tactical and ethical reflections when the opportunity appears to improve a national
law about abortion.
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Termination has been legal since 1990.
It is authorised on the demand of the woman and on medical grounds up to 14
weeks of amenorrhoea.
The woman has to declare that she is in a situation of distress, and must make
her request in written form.
Beyond 14 weeks of amenorrhoea, termination is possible only after the
consent of two doctors, provided that there is a serious health risk to the
woman, or if there is an abnormality of the foetus.
There is a mandatory waiting period after the first counselling of 6 days. -
Why do we need medical abortion when surgical abortion works so well?
Pierre Moonens, MD, Boardmember of the “Fédération de Centres de Planning Familiaux” and of “Gacehpa”, Belgium. Co-founder and Vice President of Fiapac
In the French spoken part of Belgium, we have a 25 years old experience of performing abortions in family planning clinics, using the aspiration’s technique under local anaesthesia. We are very pleased with this way of working. Description of disadvantages and advantages of this technique.
- How did we introduce the medical abortion technique in our Centres?
- Which protocol are we following for medical abortions?
- Which are the changes introduced in our daily work by this new technique?
- In which particular situations are preferring one method or the other?
- Which changes could be introduced in the protocol of medical abortion to improve the women’s rights ?
- Some ethical principals that should not be forgotten in our work of “abortion practitioners”.