Posted on 08/30/2004 8:11:16 AM PDT by jamesissmall218
Portugal has refused permission for a Dutch "abortion ship" to enter its territorial waters. The government said the group operating the trip planned to hand out pills to end early unwanted pregnancies - a procedure prohibited in Portugal.
In Portugal, abortions are only allowed in exceptional circumstances, such as when the mother's life is at risk.
The ship has stopped in other Catholic countries with restrictive abortion laws such as Poland and Ireland.
Botched abortions
The vessel leased by pro-choice group Women on Waves is staffed by a doctor, a gynaecologist and a nurse.
To circumvent Portuguese law, volunteers had planned to hand out pills which induce abortion once the ship was back in international waters where Dutch laws would have applied to the vessel.
If we accept that third parties come and violate our laws it would become much more difficult to impose authority amongst the Portuguese
Mr Thomaz Portuguese Secretary of State for Maritime Affairs Nuno Fernandes Thomaz cited legal and health reasons for turning the ship away:
"It is a question of legality and not of morality.
"If we accept that third parties come and violate our laws it would become much more difficult to impose authority amongst the Portuguese."
He pointed out that the abortion pill is banned in Portugal.
One of the volunteers on board the ship told AFP news agency by telephone that they were "trying to figure out" what they could do.
Up to 40,000 illegal abortions - some of which are fatal - are carried out in Portugal every year, according to family planning agencies.
Women are periodically taken to court for having unwanted pregnancies illegally terminated.
Many Portuguese favour changing the law to make getting an abortion easier, according to opinion polls.
But in the spring, Portugal's centre-right administration used its majority in parliament to vote down proposals by left-wing parties which would have loosened abortion legislation.
I would consider a Dutch boat trying to enter my country's waters to kill the children of my fellow citizens an act of war and blow them out of the water. But then again, I'm a right wing extremist.
I smell a broadway musical on the way. "Little Ship of Horrors".
Yep, could outsell Cats - especially if they open up before the freaks we saw yesterday leave NYC.
Honestly though, how filled with evil does one have to be to decide that people in another country just aren't killing enough of their children? Do they just dislike the Portuguese?
Some days ya just wish ya had a U-Boat....
The Death Boat is a good target for a torpedo, but that's just me.
"Honestly though, how filled with evil does one have to be to decide that people in another country just aren't killing enough of their children? Do they just dislike the Portuguese?"
Not just the Portugese, they hate all people equally. Wouldn't surprise me if they were aligned with Greenpeace... who want to wipe out the human race to make way for the whales and jellyfish.
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