Articles

De discussies rond een legalisering van opzettelijke abortus

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Abstract

This article deals with the problems of abortion as a political issue, in the form represented in the two reports of the Belgian «National Commission for Ethical  Problems» (Fall 1976). Both the «translation» of the political problem into a question to be handled by an «apolitical» commission on the level of scientific expertness, and the delivery of two mutually dissenting reports, are studied as a typical stage of the development of the political decision-making process in this matter and compared with similar evolutions in the neighbour countries (W.-Germany, France, the Netherlands). From a view point of political theory the main problem is the following : how a parliamentary democracy solves such a deap-seated confiict concerning the «basic values» of ethical order of society ? Elements of an answer can be gathered from a comparative analysis of the different positions and arguments in the two reports of the Ethical Commission.

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How to Cite: De Clercq, B. (1977) “De discussies rond een legalisering van opzettelijke abortus”, Res Publica. 19(2). doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/rp.v19i2.19479