Abortion boat may be in rough legal water

After being unable to enter Portuguese waters, the Dutch abortion boat Women on Waves has returned home, only to be met with accusations of criminal activity.

Women on Waves, founded by abortionist Rebecca Gomperts, attempted to reach an agreement with Portuguese officials when the government would not allow it to dock and threatened the floating abortuary with naval intervention if it tried to reach land. This is the first time the boat has been denied entry to a country's territorial waters.

When the agreement did not materialize, Gomperts stated that Women on Waves would not be deterred by Portugal's prohibition. Rather, it would publish its abortion information for Portuguese women to read online.

In addition, a pro-abortion message aired on television provided pregnant women with instructions on how to induce an abortion using readily available medications from any pharmacy.

Motherhood and Life, a Portuguese pro-life group, lodged a criminal complaint and is requesting a police investigation against the Women on Waves founder, stating that Gomperts violated the law through the message aired on Portuguese television.

Expatica News reported that the abortion boat had hoped to take women who were not more than six-and-a-half weeks pregnant on board and supply them with the abortion pill RU-486 out in international waters where the boat can operate under Dutch law. The boat is not equipped to conduct surgical abortions.

This controversy arose after the Dutch health ministry authorized the boat to only perform chemical abortions within 25 kilometers of Amsterdam's Slotervaartziekenhuis hospital in case of medical emergencies. Despite this ruling, the ship sailed for Portuguese waters in late August.

In 2001, Women on Waves docked in Ireland and in 2003, the boat docked in Poland. At both destinations, the ship was greeted with great opposition. In Poland, the abortionists were met with eggs, red paint and shouts of "murderers" and "Gestapo." Lech Kowalewski, spokesman for the Polish Federation of Pro-Life Movements, commented then by saying, "(The) main goal was not to give access to abortion. It's goal was to get access to the media. (Women on Waves) wants to trigger a propaganda campaign. They want to poison the minds of the people."

In light of these recent developments, it seems that the abortion ship is gaining more access to the media. In line with other pro-life analysts, as was reported by LifeSite News, the true purpose of the boat is to ignite controversy and debate over the prohibitions and restrictions on abortion in countries where the right of unborn children to continue living is still protected.

The government of Portugal has understood this, as have the people of Poland, who, after Women on Waves left their country last year, recognized that prayer was going to be needed.