Professor Sjef Gevers:

I would like to comment on the legal aspects of the 44-day period. The 2005 evaluation of the abortion Act that I mentioned earlier specified that an anomaly exists in this regard. It recommended that the law should be adapted to bring the 44-day period within the scope of the law now that we can be certain about whether there is a pregnancy. The Dutch Government agreed with that recommendation, but it did not take many measures to implement it. It was scared to make any change because it was worried about compromising the delicate law in this area. In 2016, the health minister submitted a Bill to the Dutch Parliament that would allow GPs to offer abortion pills to women who request them. We referred to this in our position paper. There has been a lot of debate about the Bill. It will not go further because the new Government does not like it. The proposed Bill would legalise the current 44-day arrangement, so to speak, by bringing it under the scope of the abortion Act. Maybe it will be advanced at some point in the future.