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15/06/2001
CONTROVERSIAL ABORTION SHIP DOCKS
THE Dutch vessel dubbed the "abortion ship" has begun its controversial 10-day visit to Ireland without the much expected furore.
The anticipated pro-life protest failed to materialise on Thursday night as the 100ft converted fishing trawler ‘Aurora’ slowly made its way up the River Liffey in Dublin accompanied by a police escort.
After its four-day voyage from Holland round the coast of England, the ship was expected to dispense contraceptives and family planning advice in Dublin and Cork.
It has since been discovered that the ship has no legal right to carry out abortions or dispense RU568, the contraceptive pill. The women’s group Women on Waves failed to obtain a permit to carry out abortions at sea from the Dutch authorities before it left the Netherlands on Monday. It was thought that the Amsterdam-based foundation would carry out terminations on pregnant women on board the vessel 12 miles off the Irish coast in international waters.
On Friday a pro-life group’s vessel began their ‘Operation Babe Watch’, and sailed by the Aurora at least 50 times carrying posters and pictures of babies and children, with ‘Life’ written across them.
It is illegal for women in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to have an abortion except in cases where the pregnancy is threatening the life of the mother.
It is believed that more than 6,000 women travel to Britain from Ireland each year for terminations.
As the ship docked in Dublin, members of the foundation refused to say whether they would be carrying out abortions on Irish women. The vessel carries an operating theatre within a converted container attached to its deck.
The ship is to travel to Cork next during its 10-day stay in the Irish Republic. (AMcE)
The anticipated pro-life protest failed to materialise on Thursday night as the 100ft converted fishing trawler ‘Aurora’ slowly made its way up the River Liffey in Dublin accompanied by a police escort.
After its four-day voyage from Holland round the coast of England, the ship was expected to dispense contraceptives and family planning advice in Dublin and Cork.
It has since been discovered that the ship has no legal right to carry out abortions or dispense RU568, the contraceptive pill. The women’s group Women on Waves failed to obtain a permit to carry out abortions at sea from the Dutch authorities before it left the Netherlands on Monday. It was thought that the Amsterdam-based foundation would carry out terminations on pregnant women on board the vessel 12 miles off the Irish coast in international waters.
On Friday a pro-life group’s vessel began their ‘Operation Babe Watch’, and sailed by the Aurora at least 50 times carrying posters and pictures of babies and children, with ‘Life’ written across them.
It is illegal for women in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to have an abortion except in cases where the pregnancy is threatening the life of the mother.
It is believed that more than 6,000 women travel to Britain from Ireland each year for terminations.
As the ship docked in Dublin, members of the foundation refused to say whether they would be carrying out abortions on Irish women. The vessel carries an operating theatre within a converted container attached to its deck.
The ship is to travel to Cork next during its 10-day stay in the Irish Republic. (AMcE)
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