No Safe Harbor
The Borndiep's offshore stay certainly made headlines helped by Gomperts' appearance on Portuguese TV to explain how to induce an abortion using over-the-counter medicines. Abortion in Portugal is banned except in very limited circumstances, although an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 women have illegal terminations each year. Antiabortion campaigners called for Gomperts to face charges of inciting abortion.
But the Borndiep was welcomed by pro-choice groups and opposition MPs. "The boat reinforced support for Portuguese women," Odette Santos, a Communist Party parliamentary deputy who is sponsoring a new bill to legalize abortion, told TIME. Santos does not expect her bill to pass, or any real change to take place until after parliamentary elections in 2006. But at least the Borndiep let the debate set sail.
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