Ireland 2001

On 11 June 2001, Women on Waves set sail from the Netherlands with an almost entirely female crew for the Republic of Ireland, a country with the most restrictive abortion law in Europe. Women on Waves was invited by several Irish abortion rights organisations.

  • Press coverage Ireland 2001

    More than 200 Irish and international journalists attend the press conference. The ship Aurora is front page news all over the world. BBC Worldnews, CNN, ABC, NBC and numerous other networks and news agencies cover this groundbreaking event.
    Positive press coverage appears in several Irish newspapers. One journalist even apologizes for her middle-class mentality as she had assumed in an earlier article that all Irish women could easily travel to England and that there would be no need for the ship. Another surprise is the CNN online opinion poll. Of the 16,500 participants, 49% are in favor of the ship’s activities.

    Due to the overwhelming amount of media all over the world, the press list that follows is incomplete.

  • What happened in Ireland?

    Sailing to Ireland
    The aim of the trip was to highlight the hypocrisy of the Irish abortion situation; catalyse efforts to liberalise the abortion law there; to build coalitions for legislative reform; and to test the feasibility of using a ship as a reproductive health clinic. The trip was made at the invitation of the Dublin Abortion Rights Group and Cork Women's Right to Choose group. Our plan was to provide reproductive health services on a ship, including the abortion pill, outside Ireland's territorial waters, and through that activity to publicise the fact that approximately 6,500 women from the Irish Republic travel to Britain for abortions each year.

  • How can I do an abortion?

    The best and safest way a woman can do an abortion herself until the 9th week of pregnancy is with the use of two medicines called Mifepristone (also known as the abortion pill, RU 486, Mifegyn, Mifeprex), and Misoprostol (also known as Cytotec, Arthrotec, Oxaprost , Cyprostol, Mibetec, Prostokos or Misotrol).
    A medical abortion done this way has a success rate of more than 97%. If you live in a country where there is no access to safe abortion services and you would like to obtain a medical abortion with Mifepristone and Misoprostol, please go to Women on Web. This is a online medical abortion help service that refers to a doctor who can provide you with a medical abortion.
    A woman can also do an abortion herself until the 9th week of pregnancy with only the use of Misoprostol.

  • october 16 th, 2008: 

    Wrestling on the water

    After the ship arrived, two small boats tried to pull it away from the quay. The women on shore took the other ropes and pulled as hard as they could. But unfortunately the engines of the small boat had more horsepower than the women.
    After a short struggle, the small boat withdrew and the Women on waves ship could dock again.
    Women's right to autonomy has triumphed!!

  • Diary: 

    Ecuador Diary

    June 14 th 2008, Women on Waves arrived in Ecuador. Here is a day by day account of the campaign, the action, the activists, the progress of the hotline, the reactions on the local level to this initiative and the personal impressions of the people involved.

  • Spain, October 2008

    Women on Waves has visited Spain from October 16 till 21 at the invitation of 33 Spanish organisations (please click here for list) concerned with a better abortion law.

    If you need help with abortion in Spain now, click here

  • Abortion on our ship

    You can make an appointment with us by telephone, email or by visiting the ship. We will inform you about when and where to board the ship. You will be treated according to Dutch professional medical standards, which include full confidentiality about counselling and/or treatment. Here you can read more about counselling, the treatment and what to expect afterwards.

  • The Portuguese Diary

    In this day-to-day diary, read what happened during the Women on Waves campaign in Portugal.

  • Media Portugal

    The best way to get an impression of the discussion in Portuguese society is to look at the overwhealming press coverage. From august 23 on, we have collected more than 700 newspaper articles. Next to the continuous TV coverage on all channels public and commercial. It shows how our trip has helped to put legal abortion on the agenda again in Portugal.

  • BBC Correspondent

    Link More about the BBC documentary "Abortionship" from the Poland campaign]