By Liz Townsend
Portugal Bans Dutch Abortion Ship
Portuguese officials have refused to allow the Dutch abortion ship to enter the country's waters and distribute abortion pills to its citizens, according to Agence France-Presse.
The ship, sponsored by the Women on Waves Foundation, planned to dock at the port of Figueira da Foz August 28, take pregnant women on board, and return to international waters to perform abortions, Reuters reported. Portuguese law only allows abortion until 12 weeks for specific reasons, such as "rape or medical need," according to the Associated Press (AP).
In international waters, the ship would fall under Dutch law, which after a recent government decision allows the foundation to give medical abortions to women less than 6-1/2 weeks pregnant. (Abortions on babies between 6-1/2 and 12 weeks would have to be performed near an Amsterdam hospital, the AP reported.)
However, the Portuguese government barred the ship from its shores. "We know what this boat was coming here to do: it was coming to break Portuguese law, to encourage or incite illegal acts," Nuno Fernandes Thomaz, secretary of state for maritime issues, told Lisbon radio station TSF.
"This is more a legal issue than a moral issue," he told TSF, according to the AP. "Firstly, we have to ensure that Portuguese law is respected. ... Secondly, we have to protect public health."
As of September 7, Portuguese naval vessels continued to monitor the ship to make sure it remained beyond the country's borders. Rebecca Gomperts of the Women on Waves Foundation told the Italian news agency ANSA that she would take Portugal to court for violating European Union regulations allowing the "free circulation of a vessel from another EU country with its papers in order."
Euthanasia Activist Remains in Jail
Rejecting Lesley Martin's application for home detention instead of prison time, a New Zealand Parole Board said that the euthanasia activist must stay in jail until she admits she was wrong to assist in her mother's death.
Martin must serve her 15-month jail sentence as long as she "is unable unequivocally to acknowledge the impropriety of her offending or articulate how she might do things differently in a like situation," the Parole Board ruled August 25, according to the New Zealand Herald.
Lesley Martin was convicted March 31 on one count of attempted murder in the death of her mother Joy, 69. Joy Martin, who was a cancer patient, died May 28, 1999, from an overdose of morphine.
Prosecutors charged Lesley Martin with murder after she wrote a book describing her mother's death. Martin wrote that she gave her mother the morphine and also covered her face with a pillow as she died, the Sunday Star Times reported.
Martin has also appealed her conviction. A hearing on her appeal will take place in November, the Herald reported.
South African Nurses Can Perform Abortions
Over the objections of nurses' organizations, pro-life groups, and the Catholic Church, the South African parliament approved a bill August 19 allowing nurses to perform abortions. The bill, passed by a 218-52 vote, also allows abortions at all public and private hospitals with a 24-hour maternity ward, according to Agence France-Presse.
The bill "seeks to extend to nurses the right to destroy innocent life through even more freely available abortions," the South African Catholic bishops' conference said in a statement August 11, Zenit news agency reported. "We note with great sadness that 330,000 innocent human lives have been destroyed since the Abortion Act came into operation in 1997.
"There is no doubt that the aim of the proposed amendment is to increase the number of abortions in our country and as a Church we deplore this onslaught on the lives of the unborn."
The Democratic Nursing Organization of South Africa also denounced the bill, which they said offered no protection to those who object to performing abortions. "Pro-abortion staff frequently initiate abortions (with the drug cytotec) ... often there is no pro-abortion staff on duty when mothers return, and pro-life staff are forced to complete the procedure," the organization claimed, according to Business Day.
The Catholic bishops urged health care workers who object to abortion to uphold their principles despite the new law. Those with moral and religious objections should "insist on their constitutional rights, respecting their freedom of conscience, and refuse to cooperate in the performance of abortions," the bishops insisted.
Aborted Women Have Higher Substance Abuse Rates
Researchers have found that women who abort their first unintended pregnancies are more likely to abuse alcohol and drugs than those who carry their babies to term.
The study, published in the June issue of the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, used data from the National Longitude Survey of Youth to identify 749 women with accidental first pregnancies, the Washington Times reported.
Of the women who aborted these babies, 18.6 percent reported marijuana abuse, compared to 7.9 percent of women who had their babies. The rate of cocaine use was 5 percent of aborted women and 2 percent of those who gave birth. Alcohol abuse was reported by 8.4 percent of those who had abortions, compared to 4.5 percent of women who carried to term.
The researchers, from the Elliot Institute and Bowling Green State University, speculated that the substance abuse may be linked to feelings of anxiety, grief, and depression that have been found in other studies of aborted women, according to the Times.
"This is obviously relevant information to give when considering options in the face of an unplanned pregnancy," report co-author James Cougle told the Times. "I know that some women can be ambivalent about the decision when coming in at first for an abortion, so learning about different risk factors which would make them more vulnerable to negative emotional consequences is important."