Guatemala: government shuts down Women on Waves ‘abortion boat’
The Guatemalan government has detained a vessel, called the Adelaida, sent by a Dutch abortion group, Women on Waves, only a day after it arrived in the country’s largest port.
“We are fine but our project is not fine,” Women on Waves spokeswoman Leticia Denedich told Life Site News. “Our boat has been detained.”
The scheme centered on the boat leaving port for international waters to perform medical or pharmaceutical abortions on unborn babies of up to 10 weeks gestation. Women from Guatemala were going to ferry to this ship, take the pill or pills, and return to shore in just four hours.
photo Alyson Jones
Denedich said the Quetzal Port Authority has ordered the Adelaida to stay and posted a patrol boat a few meters away.
“They have not cited any legal authority,” she said. “But it is clear now we will have to go to court.”
According to news reports, the 10 abortion activists from Europe and Brazil are confined to the vessel.
“Women are calling us like crazy,” Denedich claimed.
Gil Hernandez, a student from Cuba, told AFP News, “They say they are fighting for life and human rights, but it looks like murder has become a human right.”
The Guatemalan government and its president Jimmy Morales clearly intend to protect the life of its unborn children. Guatemala’s Constitution protects the life of the unborn from conception, and abortions are illegal. When the life of the mother is in danger, doctors are permitted to intervene under the principle of double effect to save her life.
