'Abortion boat' attacked

2003-06-22 19:56

Warsaw - Protesters threw eggs and red paint on Sunday at a Dutch boat trying to dock in Poland to provide family planning advice to Polish women, in the overwhelmingly Catholic country where abortion is virtually banned, organisers said.

"The boat entered the Wladyslawowo port as a fishing boat tried to prevent it from doing so," Justyna Wlodarczyk, a Polish activist who was involved in bringing the boat to Poland.

"A group of 200 young nationalists threw eggs and red paint from a pier" at the boat, Wlodarczyk said.

"We fear for the boat's security. This is a delicate situation," she said.

Police were deployed in the port to prevent clashes between the protestors and the crew of the boat that most Polish media have dubbed an "abortion clinic."

Women on Waves

The boat, the Langenort, is owned by the Dutch foundation Women on Waves, which says it sent it to focus attention on Poland's abortion law, one of Europe's most restrictive.

Organizers say the crew will not perform any abortions while on Polish territory, but will provide information on family planning to women.

"We won't terminate any pregnancies because this is banned under Polish law," said Margaret Moore, a spokesperson for the Dutch foundation.

Port authorities in Wladyslawowo, north of the Polish city of Gdansk, said the boat entered the harbour without permission and could be told to leave.

"If someone does not respect our regulations, they have to be aware of the consequences," port chief Kazimierz Undro said, quoted by the PAP news agency.

The boat arrived on Poland's northern shores overnight on Friday, immediately sparking virulent reaction in the conservative and largelycountry.

Gdansk Archbishop Tadeusz Goclowski, described it as an attempt to "kill Poles."

Polish President Aleksandr Kwasniewski told state radio that the arrival of the boat "presents a legal and moral problem."

Moral judgement

"Each of us has to make his own moral judgement. Mine is 100 percent negative," Kwasniewski said Saturday.

The ultra-conservative Polish League of Families (LPR) has asked prosecutors to ban the boat from mooring anywhere in Poland, arrest its crew members for "instigating crime" and even to impound it.

LPR sympathisers will photograph all women who go on board, LPR deputy Robert Strak said, adding the pictures would then be used as "evidence in trials for violations of the anti-abortion law."

Poland's abortion law, introduced in 1997, is considered the most repressive in Europe on a par with Ireland's, another staunchly Catholic nation.

Polish law allows abortion until the 12th week of pregnancy only if there has been rape or incest, the mother's health is at risk or the foetus risks irreversible malformation.

Physicians who perform illegal abortions face two years in jail, although the women themselves do not incur punishment.

- AFX