European court sides with Dutch abortion boat

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Wednesday that Portugal violated human rights laws by preventing the Dutch 'Women on Waves' ship from entering the country in 2004.

Women on Waves attracted worldwide notoriety in 2004 when their ship, which circumvents domestic abortion laws by offering safe abortions whilst sailing in international waters, was blocked by two Portuguese war ships. At the time, Portugal had very restrictive abortion laws and Women on Waves were seeking to draw attention to this. The ship was banned from entering Portuguese territorial waters by a ministerial order, on the basis of maritime law and Portuguese health laws.

The incident put the spotlight on the Portuguese government and just months later national elections resulted in the Socialist party taking power. Although the new Portuguese government held a referendum in February 2007 which eased the country's abortion laws, Women on Waves filed a case with the ECHR. They cited the army blockade of their ship as a violation of their freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The court unanimously decided that there was a breach of Article 10 and that in seeking to prevent disorder and protect health, the Portuguese authorities could have resorted to other means that were less restrictive of human rights.