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Dutch Abortion Ship

No More Pro-Choice Protesters on the High Seas

By Marcel Haenen

Nearing its 10th anniversary, the controversial Dutch "abortion boat" has suspended all further sailings because of recent scrutiny from government authorities. But the abortion rights activist who started it all has another plan and she says that her pro-choice campaign will continue -- on the Web.

A decade ago, Dutch physician Rebecca Gomperts had a vision. She would run a floating clinic that would help women with unwanted pregnancies all over the world. Gomperts saw herself as the captain of her organization, Women on Waves (WoW). And, Gomperts said, "I figured we would sail from country to country and help X number of women per day."

At one point, she even imagined an entire fleet of floating clinics, all registered in the Netherlands. They would anchor in international waters, carry out abortions, distribute medication and train local staff. And this would be Gomperts' way of righting what she saw as an enormous wrong: Worldwide, 20 million women undergo illegal abortions every year and around 68,000 women die as a result -- the equivalent of one plane crash every day.

But 10 years later, as WoW prepares to celebrate its anniversary on Sept. 4 in Amsterdam, Gompert's expectations are much lower. And following recent changes to the Dutch abortion law, WoW has cancelled all upcoming trips of the "abortion boat."

Women on Waves Head for Shore

In fact, this week, the Dutch health inspectorate (IGZ) asked the public prosecutor to start proceedings against WoW for distributing abortion pills off the coast of Spain, while on a rented yacht, in October 2008.

"WoW is only licensed to distribute abortion pills from its floating clinic. As WoW did not request the license be transferred to a yacht, they were breaking the law," said an IGZ spokesperson.

And to make matters worse for WoW, earlier this year the Dutch government decided to limit the distribution of abortion pills to specially approved clinics -- even for very early abortions. Until now, WoW, which is preparing a lawsuit to challenge the government decision, had been allowed to provide the pill for early abortions based on written permission from former Dutch Health Minister Els Borst.

"This year we had planned to campaign with a yacht off the coasts of Nicaragua, Chile, Brazil and Argentina," Gomperts said. "Our legal system states that what is allowed under Dutch law is also allowed in international waters. So women boarding our ship did not have to fear prosecution. Now they risk prosecution in their own country if the Dutch health inspectorate rules that we are working outside Dutch law. That's a risk we couldn't take … we had to call off the campaign."

No Abortions Undertaken On The 'Abortion Boat'

Gomperts' dream of a fleet of abortion boats never materialized. And now it probably never will. "Under the influence of the (conservative) Christian Democrats and the ChristenUnie (the Dutch Christian Union party) everything is getting more restrictive," she said.

As it was, due to legal wrangles -- WoW only got permission to carry out early abortions in October 2008 -- the abortion boat was never used to carry out abortions anyway. "The abortion boat is a myth," said Gomperts. "Of course it's a pretty sight: a ship full of women saying, "abortion is a right". And there will always be people wanting to stop that boat." But the result of that abortion boat "myth," Gomperts says, was more symbolic than anything.

In reality, she explained, the WoW strategy was about "letting women know that there is such a thing as the abortion pill. They have to know that there is medication available for pregnancy termination." A mobile abortion clinic, set up in a container by controversial Dutch sculptor Joep van Lieshout and filled with medical equipment, was supposed to be set up on the deck of whatever ship WoW were using. But, outside of its symbolism, even this is no longer particularly useful. "It is not up to modern standards," Gomperts said. "We need something lighter that will allow us to move around faster."

Instead the mobile clinic has been loaned to the Boijmans Van Beuningen museum in Rotterdam where it may become part of an exhibition. "It is a unique part of Van Lieshout's oeuvre -- feminist art," Gomperts noted.

'Raising Children Should Be a Choice'

Since she started her campaign, Rebecca Gomperts hasn't changed much outwardly: She is still a slender woman with penetrating eyes and a burning passion to defend a woman's right to choose. "I still get upset by the fact that a woman's right to self-determination is not respected when it comes to abortion. It is a great wrong and responsible for the oppression of women and for their unnecessary deaths," she said.

In her personal life, however, there have been some big changes. The woman who made a conscious decision to remain childless, is now a single mother. She has a three-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl. But this hasn't changed her mind on the topic of abortion. "Motherhood made me realize even more that raising children should be a choice. It demands everything of you, and that's fine as long as you really want it," Gomperts argued.

Now that she's a parent, does she worry about her own safety at all? "No, I'm not afraid here (in Holland)," said Gomperts, who has been the focus of candle lit vigils by protestors in Malta and who was also acquainted with George Tiller, the American abortion doctor murdered in Kansas earlier this year. "I never look over my shoulder."

Anti-Abortion Lobby Growing Stronger

However, Gomperts does feel that the anti-abortion lobby is becoming stronger in Holland. "They copy tactics from the US, they do things like distributing little fetus dolls. They're always putting up posters and they're very active in schools," she noted. "They have more money to influence public opinion than we do. That's worrying. The other day I was giving a lecture at a school in the Bijlmer (a heavily immigrant part of Amsterdam) and I was shocked by the anti-abortion sentiment among the young immigrant girls there. And the youth activities of the Evangelical broadcasting corporation draw tens of thousands of visitors. These are signs that lots of things are changing in our society. Opposition to abortion is growing."

Gomperts became an activist a long time ago, when she first joined Greenpeace in the late 1990s. As the ship doctor on the Rainbow Warrior II, she was touched by what Latin-American women told her about unwanted pregnancies, the prostitution and the abuse that resulted from a ban on abortion in their countries. And this was the spark that set her passion burning.

Asked what she considers her biggest campaign successes, Gomperts said that she's still proud of the fact that "following our campaign, Portugal organized a referendum which led to abortion being legalized there."

Making Abortion Available Online

But really, Gomperts said, the single-most important achievement has been the founding of Women on Web, a pro-choice website which describes itself as "supported by a loose growing network of independent organizations and individuals that have no legal affiliation."

Through this organization's Web site, where women from countries in which abortion is illegal can now order the abortion pill online. A doctor asks 25 questions and checks for contradications before writing out a prescription. If the woman can afford it, there is a voluntary donation of €70 ($100). The pills are then mailed in a discreet envelope. For legal reasons, Women on Web is registered in Canada, but the pills themselves -- Gomperts estimates several hundred are mailed out every month -- come from a variety of countries.

And even though Gomperts knows that countries such as Ireland may search parcels for the abortion pills, she said that "for many women this is huge progress. It is innovative, it really helps women. Women in countries where abortion is illegal live under tremendous stress. They go to unreliable websites where they are offered fake pills. These women need help. There is also a help desk where women can talk about their worries. And anonymous support over the internet is quite effective. There are no taboos online; there is no shame in talking about it."