Abortion ship on course for return Irish visit

A DUTCH ship which caused uproar when it sailed to Ireland to carry out abortions for Irish women in 2001 has regained its licence and is coming back to this country.

Women on Waves will be making contact with pro-abortion groups here in the coming days and hopes to start carrying out abortions in international waters by the end of 2007, according to Rebecca Gomberts, Women on Waves director.

When it was last in Ireland in 2001 under invitation from the Dublin Abortion Rights and Cork Women’s Right to Choose, the group is thought to have been contacted by over 300 women hoping to avail of its service, but no surgical abortions were carried out after the Dutch and Irish authorities intervened.