Abortion ship visits Poland

The world's first floating abortion clinic, which briefly went to Ireland from the Netherlands in 2001, is to risk the wrath of the Catholic church again and drop anchor off Poland this weekend.

In a move certain to enrage anti-abortion campaigners, a three-strong medical team will seek to circumvent Polish laws and offer free abortion pills, contraception and counselling to Polish women.

The Amsterdam group Women on Waves says it has the permission of the Dutch health ministry to offer the services. It has argued that Dutch law applies on a Dutch ship if it is in international waters.

Patients will be taken to the Polish port of Wladyslawowo, then 12 miles out into the Baltic sea, where Dutch law will take effect.

Telephone hotlines open this evening and women have already made contact.

In Poland, abortion is only allowed as a last resort, after rape or for health reasons, for instance. A spokeswoman for Women on Waves, Jeannette Kruseman, said 200,000 illegal abortions were performed in the country every year.

Bert Dorenbos, of the Dutch anti-abortion group Cry for Life, said the plan was folly. "In the past the Dutch have been missionaries for good, but now we are missionaries for evil."