Women on Waves

Women on Waves is a non-profit, pro-choice organization created in 1999 by Dutch physician Rebecca Gomperts. The stated goals of the organization are to raise awareness and stimulate discussion about laws regarding abortion which they allege to be restrictive, as well as to provide safe, non-surgical abortions for women who live in countries where abortion is illegal. Other services offered by WoW include contraception and reproductive counseling. Services are provided on a specially constructed and commissioned ship that contains a mobile clinic. When WoW visits a country, women are encouraged to make appointments, and are taken on board the ship. The ship then sails out to international waters (where Dutch laws are in effect on board the ship) to perform the abortions.

Women on Waves sailed to Ireland in 2001 and Poland in 2003. (According to Gomperts, before they went to Poland, 44% of the women were pro-choice. Once they left, this number had grown to 56%) In 2004, their attempt to enter Portuguese waters was blocked when the government refused to allow them entry, and physically blocked their ship with a Portuguese warship.

The ship that Women on Waves uses for their operations was designed by a group of Dutch artists working as a collective under the name Atelier von Lieshout, which operates in a hybrid field of art, architecture, and design. By designing the ship, Women on Waves has achieved a slight degree of protection from governments of States where abortion is not legalised, since it often can claim its work as part of an "art project" and therefore under the sign of free speech, rather than simply medical work that could be regulated by governments.

Rebecca Gomperts was a Greenpeace activist and became a feminist while working on the now-sunken Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior. In collaboration with the Atelier von Lieshout, she created a portable gynaecology unit called "A-portable" that can be installed on rented ships.