The visit to Ireland this month by the Dutch "Women On Waves" ship – a floating reproductive health clinic equipped to carry out abortion – has brought national and international attention to the controversy surrounding the status of abortion in Ireland.

The ship and its mobile gynaecological unit will travel worldwide providing free reproductive health services, including abortion, to women in countries where these services are illegal, unsafe or difficult to obtain.

Most of these countries are in Africa, Asia and Latin America, but Women On Waves chose Ireland as their first port of call. Ireland has the most restrictive abortion law in the EU. At least 6,000 Irish women travel to Britain to obtain abortions each year because abortion is not available to them at home.

In a highly creative application of international marine law, Women on Waves – the Dutch charity in charge of the mission – can provide safe abortion for women in countries where abortion is illegal, yet remain within the law and avoid prosecution themselves. This is because abortion law only applies to territorial waters; outside this 12-mile radius Dutch law applies on board a Dutch ship. Since abortion is legal in the Netherlands, it is possible to sail into international waters to provide legal abortions.

Security was tight at Dublin Port where at least a hundred reporters from all around Europe gathered to see the "abortion ship". A press conference told how abortion is still illegal in Ireland, even in pregnancies resulting from incest or rape, and described the trauma faced by Irish women who must raise at least £500 to travel abroad, often alone and in secrecy, for abortions.

During the press conference a pro-life ship sporting a large photo of a baby's face and a sign saying "Operation Babe Watch" sailed back and forth attempting to catch media attention. There was no sign of Youth Defence or any other pro-life protesters onshore.

Though the ship is fully equipped for both surgical and medical abortions (using the RU486 pill), terminations will not be performed on this particular journey to Ireland. Women On Waves spokespeople explained that this was due to a technical matter – the ship's treatment room was installed later than expected and for this reason did not have time to obtain an official licence before embarking for Ireland. The ship intends to sail back to Holland for the licence before continuing its tour.

The reproductive unit is highly portable and can even travel by truck, allowing it to go to countries where reproductive health services are legal but largely unavailable, for example due to war.

"It's exactly the same thing as you'd find in a hospital or abortion clinic," stressed Gunilla Kleiverda, the ship's gynaecologist, showing us round the compact, pale-green, two-chamber mobile container consisting of a consultation room and surgery.

The unit was designed by Dutch artist Joep Van Lieshout, and is a portable art installation as well as a fully operational abortion clinic.

"For a lot of women abortion is a frightening experience," says Dr Rebecca Gomperts, who founded the Women On Waves Foundation two years ago. "It's important not to make the room too cold and clinical."

Gomperts was the doctor on board Greenpeace's ship Rainbow Warrior, and has transferred the environmental campaign group's direct action style to women's reproductive rights.

Women On Waves were invited to Ireland by the Dublin Abortion Rights Group. According to spokesperson Ivana Bacik, within four days of publicising their telephone number, 80 Irish women seeking abortion had contacted Women On Waves Ireland looking for help on board the ship.

"We were absolutely overwhelmed by the demand for abortion," says Bacik. "Even if the Dutch licence had come through on time the ship could not have coped with that many women. The need is very much there. The lesson that it's been to all of us, on all sides of the debate, is that Irish women are desperate. They have a double crisis – they've got a crisis pregnancy and want an abortion, and they also have the crisis of trying to arrange it in another country with all the problems that entails.

"I think the public mood is changing," says Bacik, siting recent opinion polls that corroborate her belief. "At this stage over a 100,000 women have travelled abroad for abortions since 1983. When you think of all those women, and their family and friends who might know that they've gone, it's a huge constituency. Irish opinion has definitely changed on this issue, and that change isn't reflected in the law."

Abortion: The Facts

• Every year nearly a quarter of all pregnant women worldwide choose to have an abortion (53 million annually).

• Approximately 25% of the world's population lives in countries with highly restrictive abortion laws.

• Where illegal, most abortions are done with unsafe methods causing complications in about 40% of the cases (as compared to 1% complications where it is legal and safe).

• The legal status of abortion makes little difference to overall levels of abortion incidence

(making it illegal does not reduce the number of abortions).

• The UN estimates that at least 80,000 women and girls worldwide die annually as a result of illegal abortions.

From Women On Waves research

Women On Waves Foundation: www.womenonwaves.org\\\\par

Women On Waves Ireland: PO Box 8306 Dublin 1.

Tel 087 922 0902. Email: [email protected]