Pro-life activists protesting against the anticipated arrival of a Dutch medical ship with facilities for carrying out on-board abortions today vowed to launch a rival boat.
The
Aurora
- also called the Sea of Change - set sail from a Dutch port yesterday and is due to dock in Dublin on Thursday.
Staff from the Amsterdam-based Women on Waves Foundation will provide contraceptives and family planning information, while "safe, legal abortions" can be carried out outside Irish territorial waters "where medically appropriate", a spokesperson said.
But Mr Patrick McCrystal, director of Human Life International (Ireland) which is mounting ‘operation babe-watch' said: "Our initiative is to counteract the deadly propaganda advanced by these Dutch abortion propagators.
He said the group has commissioned a lifeboat to offer a ‘life’ alternative to women instead of death, along with pregnancy counselling, spiritual assistance, and practical help and support during and after a woman's pregnancy.
The Aurorahas applied for a berth at Dublin's Sir John Rogerson's Quay, on the River Liffey, and it is reported the crew may be issued with bullet-proof vests to protect them against possible militant anti-abortion activity.
The 100-foot former fishing trawler carries an on-board operating theatre within a converted container, though the group has said it does not plan to conduct surgical operations.
Instead, it is understood they plan to administer the abortion pill RU486 on request from pregnant women.
All medical activity conducted while the vessel, also due to visit Cork, is docked in Ireland will be legal under Irish law, while its offshore activities will be legal under Dutch law, the Women on Waves spokesperson added.
Ms Julia Heffernan, of Life's pregnancy care service, condemned the trip as a publicity-seeking "stunt".
She said: "Asking women to go on board for an abortion under the full glare of publicity is not caring for those women.
"We in Ireland do not have women dying from abortions or from neglect in childcare."
She was also concerned about the safety of administering RU486 on board the ship.
PA