Dutch Women on Waves Ship Lacks Critical Inspection

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Friday June 15 3:17 PM ET (via yahoo)

Dutch Abortion Ship Will Return to Ireland

By Michael Roddy

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Abortion rights campaigners who sailed a floating clinic
to Ireland to challenge its tough laws vowed Friday to return after
admitting they lacked permission to conduct abortions.

Kathleen O'Neill, spokeswoman for the Irish chapter of the Dutch-based Women
on Waves group, said the converted fishing trawler Aurora, which
docked in Dublin Thursday, lacked a necessary medical inspection from the
Dutch government.

"The ship is medically certified and all of that but in order to obtain a
license to practice or to have abortions outside the territorial waters we
needed a medical inspection," she told Reuters.

She was referring to plans that the group had announced in advance to
provide medical abortions to Irish women by sailing them into international
waters where Ireland's abortion laws, the most restrictive in the EU, would
not apply.

O'Neill said that the ship, which entered Dublin harbor on a huge wave of
international media attention, would be used as a venue for counseling and
that after it leaves, following a visit to the southern city of Cork next
week, it would return.

"We're probably bringing the ship back in a month, when the license is there
and there are some legal things on the Irish side that need to be sorted,"
she said.

She added that the group had been overwhelmed by the interest expressed by
Irish women, of whom she said some 250 had signed up for services
in four days, and regretted that abortions, induced by drugs, would not be
provided.

She said the women would still receive counseling and would be advised of
how to proceed with abortions if they so choose.

She said this may still require a trip outside the country, "but they'll be
doing it with a lot more support and at a much lower cost." Some 6,000
Irish women a year travel to Britain for the procedure.

Overwhelmingly Catholic Ireland enshrines the right to life for mother and
unborn child in an amendment to its constitution and permits women to travel
abroad for abortions but has such restrictions at home that abortions are
never done legally.

CHALLENGE TO IRISH STATUS QUO

Stormy confrontations with anti-abortion groups had been expected when the
Aurora, a 35-meter (115-foot) converted fishing trawler, arrived, but
the visit sparked more interest from international media than from activists
or local citizens.

A lone protester threw himself onto the deck and held up an anti-abortion
poster, providing a rare high point for disappointed camera crews.

Women on Waves founder Rebecca Gomperts said the visit had highlighted "the
denial of human rights" to Irish women and called on the Irish
government to legalize abortion.

She said the voyage was the first of many and appealed to women around the
world for financial support.

Asked whether she felt guilty about disappointing Irish women who had sought
help, she said the group was looking into providing financial
assistance.

Gomperts said Women on Waves had applied for a permit to carry out the
operations but "a technical issue has been turned into a political one."
She
was pressing the matter with the Dutch government, she added.

Peter McCormack, who said he had voted against abortion in two referendums,
said Women on Waves should be sent on its way.

"The people have voted against it and they have no right to be here," he
said.

Ireland has put the legalization of abortion to a referendum twice since
1983. It was rejected both times.

In a 1992 vote, Irish women were permitted to travel overseas for abortion
and providing information on abortion services in another state, which
invariably means England, was made legal.

Abortion divides society in Ireland where the once omnipresent Catholic
Church, vehemently opposed to abortion, is rapidly losing influence.

None of Ireland's major political parties is campaigning for abortion to be
made available. 

 
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