Blog 6: Dutch Abortion Ship

Suzanne Nemchek

SOC 202-01

Blog 6

10/7/12

                A Dutch group of women’s rights activists, “Women on Waves”, was escorted from Moroccan waters by police (Schemm).  The group travels on a small yacht on which they claim to be able to perform safe abortions for women without legal access to them (Schemm).  In Morocco, abortion is illegal, unless the mother’s life is at risk, as well as is giving out information about abortion.  “Women on Waves” not only performs these abortions but distributes a number for a hotline that provides women with information about medications that can be used to perform an abortion (Schemm).  While the yacht sailed around the harbor, some 200 protestors surrounded the harbor with “pictures of bloody embryos and shouted ‘Terrorist’ and ‘Assassin’ at [the organization’s founder]” (Schemm). 

                The real issue here is that women are being criminalized for breaking a law that is still under debate in most countries.  Laws for abortion differ from country to country but many countries, such as Morocco, only allow it for rare cases.  In such countries, though women may not legally attain an abortion, many women still seek illegal abortions which are usually unsafe and harmful to the woman because they are not performed by certified doctors.  Therefore, whether a country is for or against abortion, they will still occur.  Furthermore, the illegality forces these women to undergo life-threatening operations which wouldn’t be life-threatening otherwise.  Although everyone will never agree on the issue of abortion, most people can agree that legalizing abortion would only improve many of these situations rather than encourage more women to abort.  The “Women on Waves” organization only wishes to improve the already existent instances of abortion by informing women on how to safely undergo an abortion.  Unfortunately, the yacht had to be escorted due to the laws of Morocco.  While many people (usually those highly invested in religion) would agree with these laws, it is really in everybody’s best interest to leave the option for an abortion open for all women.

Works Cited

Schemm, Paul. 2012. "Dutch Abortion Ship: 'Women on Waves' Boat Heads For Morocco". The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/04/dutch-abortion-ship-morocco_n_1939273.html?utm_hp_ref=world