Commentary: Clowes: "Women on Waves" Finally Runs AgroundDutch doctor Rebecca Gomperts, medical officer for the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior II, found that reputable medicine "didn"t fulfill her." In 1997, she performed her first abortions. She enjoyed ending preborn life so much, she decided to make it her life's work.
Two years later, the newly minted abortionist established the Women on Waves Foundation (WOW), and equipped a trawler named the Sea Change with a mobile abortion clinic in a small converted shipping container put together by an artist.
She intended to take the boat to South America and Africa, providing abortions just outside the territorial waters of nations where abortion is still illegal. The purpose of the whole charade was to promote abortion law liberalization with a concerted media blitz.
One of the primary missions of the abortion boat was to "train local service providers in techniques of vacuum aspiration." In other words, WOW intended to leave hastily trained illegal abortionists behind to cause the very carnage it claimed it was trying to end.
The ship's three abortionists hoped to fund the project with what they called their "reproductive battleship" by performing at least 4,000 abortions annually, thereby killing more human beings than most actual Navy warships.
Fortunately, the performance of WOW's staff resembled a gaggle of escapees from a Three Stooges convention.
WOW's first mission was in June 2001 to Ireland, the most pro life nation in Europe, to highlight the "hypocrisy" of the nation's abortion law. However, the bumbling WOW staffers not only forgot to bring the right equipment, they neglected to get their floating abortion mill licensed by the Dutch government.
Even the pro abortion Irish press panned Gomperts' trip. The Sunday Telegraph headline was "Abortion Boat Admits Dublin Voyage Was a Publicity Sham," and another trumpeted "Abortion Ship Sails Into Disaster."
During WOW's visit, Human Life International Ireland launched its "Operation Babe Watch" prayer and fasting campaign, which included putting a vessel entitled the Life Boat to sea, and the widespread distribution of pro life literature.
Because of the determined prolife defense, the abortion boat had to retreat to the Netherlands without killing a single Irish unborn child.
Gomperts kicked off her next debacle during WOW's June 2003 visit to Poland as she tried to set up what she called a "sexual workshop cruise" for Polish women.
WOW's converted East German tugboat Langenore ignored Polish berthing regulations at Wladyslawowo and promptly sailed into mayhem. A rowdy crowd threw eggs and red paint and released a bucket of rats on board the ship. Polish officials boarded the floating abortion mill and found that most of its medications were expired, and the rest were illegal for use in the country.Church and state alike condemned the abortion boat, calling it a "death ship" and decrying the "deliberate provocation" it was attempting. The Warsaw Voice labeled WOW "Ship of Fools," and the Polish government levied a $3,150 fine for numerous safety violations.
This time, however, the crew aborted 11 women offshore with the RU 486 death pill. On its web site, WOW tried to reassure women that there was "no risk at all" that complications from RU 486 could occur on the "high sees" [sic], despite the fact that more than a dozen women had died from using the drug under much better conditions.
Gomperts took some time off to straighten out her licensing problems, and picked up several awards along the way, including the Ms. "Woman of the Year" Award and Planned Parenthood's Margaret Sanger "Woman of Valor" Award. WOW's next failure took place in Portugal in September 2004. Human Life International worked with a local pro life group that persuaded the Ministry of Defense to stop the floating abortion mill from entering the nation's ports, and two warships kept it in international waters, thus not allowing it to kill any Portuguese babies during its mission of death. Gomperts, again demonstrating her disdain for the laws of pro life countries, went on national TV to show women how to perform their own abortions, and then fled the country under threat of prosecution because she had publicly promoted an illegal act.
When you see abortionists driven out of a country under threat of prosecution, you know the prolifers have won decisively.
Gomperts next traveled to Malta in October 2007 to give a lecture on abortion. HLI's Paul Vincenti organized a candlelight vigil outside Gomperts' hotel and talk, with pro lifers outnumbering proabortionists by five to one. Yet WOW claimed that support for abortion in Malta was widespread and growing. The Maltese, to their credit, did not budge on their traditional protection of human life.
During WOW's October 2008 visit to Valencia, Spain, its supporters passed out boxes of matches with the picture of a burning church and the caption, "The only church that brings light is the one that burns. Join us!" Meanwhile, these same feminists complained about how "violent" all pro lifers are.
In 2008, Women on Waves traded in its trawler for a high end 130 foot sport fishing boat ironically named Harmony, donned what crew members called their "bullet free vests" for the media, and headed for Ecuador. Pro lifers watched closely, wondering just how Gomperts and her merry band would botch things up this time.
They didn"t have long to wait. Gomperts chose Esmeraldas as her landing site, because, as she said, it "already has a history of liberation. In 1553 a Spanish slaving ship ran aground and 23 Africans freed themselves, swam ashore and settles [sic] in Esmeraldas."
So the captain of the Harmony decided to copy the slavers, and promptly ran the Harmony aground. After two fruitless weeks of trying to salvage the vessel, Gomperts and her crew set about spreading their message through vandalism and mockery of the Catholic faith.
Perhaps Gomperts should rename her foundation "Women Under the Waves."
Pro abortion activists spread across Quito in the night, spraypainting their slogan Aborto Seguro ("Safe Abortion") everywhere. The next day, the WOW women draped a huge banner saying "Safe Abortion/Your Decision" from the 135 foot tall statue of the Virgin de Panecillo, high above Quito and visible from most of the city.
Gomperts had previously complained that her group had been "offended and intimidated" by pro lifers -- but, as we know, proabortionists, who have such very tender feelings, have no problem with ridiculing the most cherished beliefs of others.
Gomperts could have draped her banner from any tall building or bridge in Quito, but chose instead to insult the Catholic faith, our Lady, and the Ecuadorian nation, which is 95% Catholic. Poetic Justice Finally, the Dutch government grounded WOW for good in May 2009 when it passed a law stating that the RU 486 abortion pill may only be distributed by approved clinics, in light of the fact that it has killed 30 women. This law was intended to protect women, but Gomperts alleged that it represents "a growing tendency toward restriction and intolerance" in Dutch politics.
After a decade of hype and media promotion, we can see Rebecca Gomperts for exactly what she is -- just another rich white European seeking to deprive poor cultures of their most valuable resource -- their children. She is doing her best to impose Western non values on other cultures and hold down their populations (and therefore their power) in the tradition of her infamous predecessor, Margaret Sanger.
As Bert Dorenbos of the Dutch pro life group Cry for Life sadly observed, "In the past the Dutch have been missionaries for good, but now we are missionaries for evil."
Women on Waves has proven that it is just another manifestation of pro abortion hypocrisy and contraceptive imperialism. While WOW shouts at pro lifers to "obey the law" and "don"t offend us," it deliberately sets out to offend the populations of entire nations, blithely ignoring their laws while doing so.
There is plenty of poetic justice in the termination of this killer boat. Let us hope and pray that this ridiculous chapter in abortion extremism remains where it should have been all along -- at the bottom of the deep blue sea.
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