ONLY JESUS CHRIST IS THE AUTHOR OF LIFE

THINGS HARD TO BELIEVE THAT HAPPEN IN THE YEAR 2000

Abortion clinic set to sail By Daniela Xuereb The Dutch abortion doctor, Rebecca Gomperts, is in the process of finalising a pilot project for a floating abortion clinic in international waters, offering services to women from countries where abortion is illegal. The funds and expertise needed for the project has been acquired and the ship is expected to sail in the near future. A group of doctors, nurses and other volunteers are lined up to work on the ship which will offer services in international waters, 12 miles outside the coast, and provide contraceptives, information, training, workshops, and safe abortions in countries were abortion is illegal. The Maltese authorities had stated earlier this year that criminal action could be taken against those organising or helping in this service, while the Maltese Bishops had expressed their immense shock at the idea of having a floating abortion clinic close to Maltese territorial waters. Speaking to The Malta Independent on Sunday Dr Gomperts said the idea of an abortion clinic, which was launched last year as Women on Waves, is now entering its final phase of preparations. Rebecca Gomperts, based in Amsterdam, is a certified abortion doctor who has worked for a number of abortion clinics is a member of the Dutch Society of Abortion Physicians. Dr Gomperts said: "Besides the many people who are eager to work as volunteers on the ship, we have already lined up a group of doctors and nurses who are ready to work on board as the crew," and added, "we had enormous support and interest of all kinds both in Europe and internationally. At the moment, we have the funding needed for an initial pilot sailing." The idea of an abortion ship was suggested, according to Dr Gomperts, because many women undergo abortions in an unsafe and secretive mannerDr Gomperts was also invited to speak on one of Dr Emy Bezzina's radio programmes in Malta recently. She said: "Following an invitation by Dr Emy Bezzina on a five hour long radio programme, a number of listeners responded very positively. However I understood, regretfully, that there are no pro-choice women's groups in Malta." Speaking to The Malta Independent on Sunday earlier this year Dr Gomperts urged governments to deal with the health impact of unsafe abortions as a major health concern. Referring to Malta, Gomperts said the foundation was aware of the prevailing Catholic values in Malta. "However these values do not automatically mean that people oppose the use of contraception or provision of safe and legal abortion services." Speaking about the legality of abortion Dr Gomperts had stated: "Although there are no official statistics, it is quite obvious that Maltese women travel abroad to have an abortion. We extrapolated the Dutch abortion rates, which are the lowest in the world, to Malta, and it means that every day at least two women in Malta seek abortion services." "In principle what we are doing is not much different from the situation that already exists. We will only combine the travelling and the medical service. The legal status of abortion makes little difference to overall levels of abortion incidence," said Dr Gomperts. Dr Gomperts had concluded by saying that legal or not, women chose to have abortions all the time. She said: "According to an estimate by the World Health Organisation, 20 million of the 53 million abortions every year are performed under unsafe and illegal conditions, resulting in the deaths of approximately 100,000 women each year and causing complications in approximately 40 per cent of the cases." [email protected]

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