The floating abortion clinic: Women on Waves

Calling the Dutch ship a ‘floating abortion clinic’ is not technically inaccurate. But reducing the topics of women’s health, sexual education and the curtailed reproductive rights of women around the world to ‘abortion ship’ seems to play into the hands of the critics. And the organisation Women on Waves has more than a few critics. That’s what it does, primarily, but there’s a bit more to the story than that.

Who are Women on Waves?

The human rights organisation began more than a decade ago after doctor Rebecca Gomperts saw the physical and emotional affects unwanted pregnancies had on women in developing and conservative nations. The registered charity uses a Dutch boat and sails to ports in countries where abortions are illegal or restricted, taking women in need of help to international waters where they can be treated and abortions performed by medical personnel on board. Local laws don’t apply in international waters.

According to its own website: “Working in close cooperation with local organizations, Women on Waves wants to respond to an urgent medical need, empower women to exercise their human right to reproductive health and legal, safe abortion and draw public attention to the consequences of unwanted pregnancy and illegal abortion. Women on Waves supports the efforts of local organizations to change the laws in their country.”

How bad is the international situation for women’s health?

According to Women on Waves, every 8 minutes somewhere in the world a woman dies needless as a result of illegal, unsafe abortion. They go on to say that approximately 25 per cent of the world’s population (almost 2 billion people) live in countries with highly restrictive abortion laws. There are some 42 million abortions performed annually, but almost half of these are performed illegally and without the proper support.

The controversy

Women on Waves recently ran afoul of Facebook’s stringent content guidelines when its director posted DIY abortion guidelines as her profile picture. The advice was intended, she said, for those who required an abortion for whatever reason but had no way of having the procedure overseen by a medical professional.

The organisation said: “Today, Facebook removed the profile picture of Rebecca Gomperts, which was text with information about how women can do abortions safely by themselves. […] By removing the profile picture, Facebook is in gross violation of Article 19, the right to freedom of information, of the Universal declaration of Human rights. Facebook has a social responsibility to guarantee human rights. Dr. Gomperts reposted the screenshot of the Facebook censorship message with the picture. She calls upon all Facebook users that support abortion rights to repost the message on their page.”

Facebook responded by apologising and saying the profile picture was removed in error, following an outcry from supporters.

Jezebel reported on the controversy, and quoted Reddit web forum user Sukitrebek, who was responding to criticism the group was peddling dangerous advice to women: “This is a well thought out point, but the drug she is recommending, misoprostol, is used in countries where abortion is legal to induce abortions, usually in combination with mifepristone. […] It is all well and good to say “check with a doctor,” but when you live in a country where abortion is illegal and seeing a doctor is not an option, it may be the woman’s only choice to find a way to do the abortion herself. We need to be pissed that women are forced into situations like this and be complaining to lawmakers.”

We asked medical ethicist Leslie Cannold for her thoughts:

“I think WoW are doing critical work, though it is of course highly symbolic. Women experience problem pregnancies 365 days a year and so need access to safe abortion care in their own countries. WoW is designed to help a few while drawing attention to the injustice of so many of the world’s women lacking access to essential, basic healthcare services.

It is an understatement to say that, in an ideal world, women would not have to rely on terse advice on a Facebook page to manage a crisis pregnancy! However, the women WoW are seeking to assist are those who live in places where safe, lawful, affordable and accessible services don’t exist. For such women, the alternative to taking advice from a Facebook page is either continuing with a problem pregnancy (with the much higher risks birth vs early abortion as well as wanted motherhood versus unwanted motherhood entails for mother and child) or pursuing an unsafe and/or unlawful abortion.

So, given this, I think the Facebook page is justified. However, I would certainly implore women – where this is possible – to avail themselves of the medical advice that WoW offers with regard to pill-provided abortion. Of course for women who live in countries where abortion is safe and legal, I’d advise seeking medical advice from either an abortion clinic, a women’s health clinic or a pro-choice GP when considering pregnancy termination. For those without these options, good factual information on abortion exists on the Better Health Channel.

Or they can contact Children by Choice or the Family Planning service in their state. [We’ve included the list below this article].

As a final note, it is important for Australian women to understand that there is a lot of misinformation on abortion on the internet, as well as false “counselling” or advice lines staffed by pro-life religious volunteers. I would advise women NOT to take information or ring these services if they want balanced, fact-based information or a referral to an abortion clinic.

Leslie Cannold is a medical ethicist, President of Reproductive Choice Australia and author of The Book of Rachael

What do you think of the work Women on Waves is doing? What about posting DIY abortion instructions on Facebook?