Yahoo – AFP,
February 26, 2017
Guatemala
City (AFP) - Guatemala has expelled a Dutch "abortion ship" carrying
activists who had vowed to help women circumvent the country's longstanding
prohibition against terminating pregnancies, the army said Sunday.
Activists
from the group Women on Waves had been guarded aboard their moored sailboat by
a navy vessel, Saul Tobar, commander of Puerto Quetzal on Guatemala's Pacific
coast, told reporters.
"Notified
of its expulsion from the country's territorial waters for having failed to
comply with immigration regulations" late Saturday, the crew requested
permission to set sail, he said. The activists saw no patients.
The
immigration authorities ordered the expulsion on Friday, saying the group's
members lied in their entry declaration papers, claiming to be tourists and not
members of a "health organization" that aimed to perform abortions.
Abortion is
allowed in Guatemala only in cases in which a mother's life is deemed in
danger.
The
sailboat Adelaide arrived at the southern port of San Jose on Tuesday carrying
10 activists from Guatemala, as well as from Brazil, Austria, Germany, the
Netherlands and Spain.
They had
planned to offer abortions in international waters off Guatemala's coast over
five days, picking up five women at a time by dinghy.
Abortions
were to be induced with two pills. Counseling, treatment and aftercare were
also to be available for women seeking the group's services.
However,
following the Dutch-registered boat's arrival, President Jimmy Morales ordered
the government to file a formal complaint with the prosecutor's office.
Port
officials ordered the activists to stay on board their ship, saying they had
not declared the motive of their trip and therefore could not go ashore.
Stopping,
unsafe illegal abortions
Women on
Waves says some 65,000 illegal and unsafe abortions take place in the Central
American country every year.
Although
the group would use all available legal means to carry out its campaign, it
would also respect Guatemalan law, spokeswoman Leticia Zenevich said.
Women on
Waves had previously said its sailing ship was illegally "detained"
by the military, which it accused of "obstructing a lawful protest against
the state's restrictions on the Guatemalan women's right to safe
abortion."
Its arrival
had prompted protests by conservative as well as religious groups.
"It's
very offensive that this group comes here to practice abortion, which is
ultimately to practice murder," said Gonzalo de Villa, president of
Guatemala's Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Guatemala
Evangelical Alliance president Cesar Vasquez, called the NGO's activities
"crimes against humanity."
However,
some feminist groups supported the campaign.
Set up in
1999, Women on Waves has generated controversy in the past.
It sent the
boat to Ireland, Poland, Portugal and Spain in previous years, prompting
protests by pro-life groups in each country.
The group
had urged the Guatemalan government to "remove abortion from the penal
code," saying it is "a regular medical procedure and a human
right," and calling for access to contraceptives and free, safe abortions.
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