1999

Women on Waves is a non-governmental organisation registered in the Netherlands founded in 1999 by Dutch physician Rebecca Gomperts to prevent unsafe abortions and unwanted pregnancies. The organisation provides sexual health services and education to women in countries with restrictive laws around reproductive rights. Research has shown these restrictions mostly harm women living in poverty, survivors of domestic violence, and young people under the age of 18 who need abortion care.

This is how WoW introduces themselves on their website:

Women on Waves aims to prevent unsafe abortions and empower women to exercise their human rights to physical and mental autonomy. We trust that women can do a medical abortion themselves and make sure that women have access to medical abortion and information through innovative strategies. But ultimately it is about giving women the tools to resist repressive cultures and laws. Not every woman has the possibility to be a public activist but there are things we can all do ourselves.

Other services offered by WoW include contraception, individual reproductive counseling, workshops, and education about unwanted pregnancy. Workshops are conducted for lawyers, doctors, artists, writers, public health care activists, as well as for women and men to learn about contraceptive practices and non-surgical, DIY abortion using RU-486.

Women on Waves are a particularly fitting figure to introduce the notion of a pirate care practice, as they utilise pirate strategies in both senses of the term: as piracy at sea and in the sense of disobedience using digital tools.

On Waves

Women on Waves sails a ship registered in the Netherlands to countries where abortion is illegal. By anchoring the boat outside territorial waters, they are able to provide contraceptives, information, training, workshops, and safe and legal abortion services to local women who need them. They are able to do so because in international waters local laws do not apply. Applicability of national penal legislation, and thus also of abortion law, extends only to territorial waters; outside that 12-mile radius (or 2 hours sailing) off the coast of a country. It is thus Dutch law that applies on board of Women on Waves’ ship, which means that all their activities are legal.

However, in June 2009 the Dutch government changed the abortion law and claimed that the early abortion services Women on Waves used to provide legally on board the ship now fall under the criminal law. Women on Waves disagreed with this interpretation by the Dutch government. The original law has since been upheld and Women on Waves have been able to continue its activities legally. In 2018, the organisation received a license to perform abortions with pills (misoprostol with or without mifepristone) on board of a Dutch sailing yacht in international waters.

The boat travels with a specialised abortion doctor, a gynaecologist, and a specialised nurse so early medical abortions can be provided not only legally, buy also safely and professionally, even exceeding the highest standards for normal abortion services in the Netherlands and other EU countries.

With their ship missions, Women on Waves wants to respond to an urgent medical need but also, crucially, to draw public attention to the consequences of unwanted pregnancy and illegal abortion. Women on Waves has created enormous public interest after successful ship campaigns in Ireland (2001), Poland (2003), Portugal (2004) and Spain (2008). Women on Waves always works in close cooperation with local organisations and further supports their efforts to change the laws in their country. The campaign in Portugal catalysed the legalisation of abortion in February 2007, for instance. WoW also works with local partners to create safe abortion telephone hotlines, in countries such as Ecuador (2008) and Chile (2009).

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Digital disobedience

As mentioned, Women on Waves embody the perfect figure of the pirate carer not only because of their resourceful and effective use of international maritime laws but also because of the ways in which they use digital technologies to disobey laws that take away women’s right to bodily autonomy and informed decision making. They saw the internet as a sea too, across which they have been able to provide abortion services across borders through their sister organisation, Women on Web.

Abortion Robots

Like the other Women on Waves campaigns, the Abortion Robot is using the different legalities concerning abortion in the different countries. The robot operated from the Netherlands is delivering the pills to the woman after she has been counselled by a doctor through the robot. Counselling the woman and providing the abortion pills is allowed in the country where the robot operator is based, so through the distant operation of the robot the abortion service is legal. So far Women on Waves has used the Abortion Robot in Northern Ireland and Poland.

Abortion Drones

The Abortion Drone has been used in recent campaigns in Poland (2015) and Ireland (2016). The drone flies abortion pills from one country to women in another country. Using the different legislations and regulations, it makes the reality of women in countries where abortion is restricted visible by creating access to the abortion pills. (see Figure 1)

On Web

Women on Web is the sister organisation of Women on Waves. Founded in 2005 by Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, this Canadian non-profit organisation assisting women and pregnant people worldwide to gain access to safe telemedical abortion. By using telecommunications technology, Women on Web has answered over 1 million help requests via emails and provided region- and country-specific information about safe abortion options in 22 languages.

People who need safe abortion or contraception can make an online consultation at Women on Web website. After being reviewed by medical doctors, medical abortion pills or contraceptives are provided via mail. Their help desk team accompanies women and pregnant people during all stages of the process and responds to any questions that may arise within 24 hours. Supervised by medical doctors, the help desk operates in 16 languages, including Arabic, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai, and Turkish.

The Women on Web website is a source of reliable information and collects personal abortion experiences to allow and encourage women and pregnant people to openly explore and discuss their reproductive choices. They are committed to ensure that all women and pregnant people have access to scientific and evidence-based information on safe abortion and contraception.

The mission of Women on Web is to advocate for and facilitate access to contraception and safe abortion services to protect women's health and lives around the world. The organisation works to catalyse procedural and legal change in abortion access through telemedicine, research, community outreach, and advocacy. They write:

We strive for a world where safe abortion care is accessible for all women and pregnant people, free from shame and stigma.

Internet Campaigns

The work of Women on Waves and Women on Web is often considered controversial and their materials have been censored by sites such as Facebook and Google.

On May 4th, Google released the results of its second Core Update of 2020. Women on Web saw a 90% drop in the website’s traffic as a result, a massive loss by comparison to previous updates and a troubling impact on abortion access. WoW have been questioning Google’s assurance that its updates are neutral and more broadly advocating for more transparency and public means to keep in check the “digital redlining” implemented by giant tech companies.

Since Women on Web website is censored in some countries, the organisation also teach activists ways to bypass the blockages.

WoW has protested against the restrictions of publishing information in cyberspace, invoking Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This article states "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

Safe abortion App

Despite these difficulties, WoW keeps fighting for the right to express their ideas and share information on the internet. For this reason, they have also created a "Safe Abortion with Pills" App, which is available for free from the Google Play store for android phones.

The present text is based on a remix of various statements by Women on Waves and Women on Web that are available on their websites.

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