Should the Women on Waves’ so-called “abortion ship” pay a visit to Malta in a future campaign as intended, the government will expect the laws of the land to be adhered to.
Contacted yesterday for a reaction to the prospect that the ship may visit Malta, a spokesman for the Office of the Prime Minister responded that the government “expects everyone, Maltese or foreign, to respect the laws of the country when in Malta.”
The ship offers its services in international waters, where the national laws of the flag it flies apply. In this case, the ship falls under Dutch law when outside Maltese territorial waters. The organisation has been given a licence by the Dutch authorities to carry out abortions for women up to seven weeks pregnant.
However, it is not clear from the government’s reply how it would deal with the handing out of literature or counselling services by the ship’s crew when in Malta.
The Maltese pro-life organisation Gift of Life reacted strongly to the news yesterday and called for the government, as well as the opposition, to “take a clear position on this issue” and warned that “these people will never give up until abortion is legalised in Malta.”
The group also warned the authorities that the vessel “will also try to enter our waters under the premise of ‘only handing out literature and information’,” and urged the government to “prevent such a situation from ever arising.”
The possibility of the
government preventing a ship flying the flag of an EU member state, in this case the Dutch flag, from
entering Maltese waters is highly dubious and a
government attempt at such a bold move would possibly provoke a diplomatic
incident.
Similarly dubious would be a government attempt to prevent EU nationals from coming ashore in Malta to distribute information and literature.
While stating it would wait for the government to take a clear stand on the issue before it decides what action it would take “should this vessel attempt to come to Malta”, Gift of Life also questioned who Women on Waves’ local partners were, citing their belief that “this vessel always operates with
representatives who are already embedded in the country”.
As reported exclusively by this newspaper this week, the Women on Waves organisation plans to visit Malta in future campaigns. The non-profit organisation was recently given a new licence, as the previous licence had been rescinded by a conservative Dutch government, to offer abortion services.
Speaking to The Malta Independent on Wednesday, Women on Waves director Dr Rebecca Gomperts commented: “Malta is definitely one of the countries on our list, although we have no definite decision as yet and as such we cannot exclude or confirm travelling to Malta.
“We would, however, really like to come to Malta as we have already campaigned in the other European states where abortion was illegal – namely Portugal, Poland and Ireland.
“With Malta being the only such country where we have not yet campaigned, I believe that the country should definitely be included in our itinerary,” said Dr Gomperts.
She added that the organisation was in the process of raising funding and chartering a new ship, activities which, she explained “of course will take time”.
The organisation is also preparing for new legal proceedings in the Dutch courts, where it is to appeal against the terms of the new licence by requesting the pregnancy time limit be extended to 12 weeks, as well as against other restrictions contained in the terms of the licence.
As for the time frame in which the new chartered ship could be expected to weigh anchor, Dr Gomperts added: “We really don’t know, as sometimes these things are fast and sometimes slow – but one thing to consider is that since Malta has fair weather most of the year, we would not necessarily have to wait for the summer season to pay a visit.”
Dr Gomperts explained that abortions aboard the ship were carried out by means of an “abortion pill”, which induces a spontaneous miscarriage. The procedure has a 98 per cent success rate. She added that “it is a very safe method of abortion and has been used by millions of European women”.
Gift of Life CEO and spokesman Paul Vincenti, however, yesterday referred to the procedure as “a revolting ‘do-it-yourself’ abortion method”, adding that “the drug is being used even more widely around the globe as the abortion industry is finding it more and more difficult to find doctors who are willing to carry out abortions”.
Referring to Women on Waves and their local representatives, the pro-life group remarked: “these people are bent on destroying human life, no matter how frail and defenceless”. The comment was followed by the statement that “no abortion clinic anywhere offers women post-abortion support to help these women cope with the deep psychological scars that follow an abortion”.