As discussions around reproductive rights continue in Luxembourg, RTL Today asked all seven parliamentary parties where they stand on key issues such as abortion access, legal deadlines, and potential constitutional protections.
Earlier this year, Luxembourg took concrete steps to advance women's rights – by scrapping a mandatory reflection period for women, banning hymen reconstruction, and virginity certificates.
Amidst what some see as warning signs from the US and other European countries like Hungary, France has set an example by becoming the first country in the world to enshrine abortion into the constitution.
In this deep dive, RTL Today speaks to each of the seven parties which make up Luxembourg's Chamber of Deputies to find out where they stand – on extending the abortion cutoff period to 14 weeks and constitutional protection. In the second part we are going to take a look at where Luxembourg stands with gender equality.
All the following responses were gathered through interviews and conversations with party representatives, as well as statements and comments provided to RTL Today for the purpose of this article.
What do you think about extending the term limit to 14 weeks?
Background: Most countries in the European Union permit abortions within 12 weeks of pregnancy, with France and Spain setting the deadline at 14 weeks. In the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, termination of pregnancy is allowed at up to 24 weeks.
Luxembourg's current term limit is set at 12 weeks; a move to change this to 14 weeks was recently rejected.
Some parties support and campaign for entering abortion into the Luxembourg constitution, while others are against it. What is your position on this?
Background: France is currently the only country to have enshrined abortion into the constitution after Roe v Wade was overturned in the US in 2022. More recently, the right to abortion in other European countries such as Poland and Hungary have come into question.
