A gynecologist and nurse on board will offer abortions inside a green shipping container fastened to the deck. The room is fitted out as a treatment room with a chair designed for abortion operations and a machine to determine the length of pregnancy. The trip to Ireland, where the ship will spend up to a month, is a pilot project of a mission that could eventually include parts of Africa. We simply want to give women a choice. I can't see Irish women gathering at the dockside to be collected and taken out to the abortion ship.
Abortion is a very private thing.
Gomperts said the foundation had been invited by local groups and had considerable support from Irish women, more than 6,000 of whom travel to Britain every year for abortions. Gomperts, a doctor who formed the group in 1999, previously provided medical assistance aboard the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior. She said her team would offer the RU 486 abortion pill to Irish women who wanted to terminate their pregnancies. The pill blocks progesterone, the hormone that maintains pregnancy, triggering a miscarriage. As the boat departed, Dutch public prosecutors said they were considering whether to launch a criminal investigation against Women on Waves who do not have a licence to perform operations.