If you ever wonder how far abortion activists might go in promoting abortion, all you have to do is look at the recent articles about a Dutch doctor's abortion boat. Dr. Rebecca Gompers is raising money to outfit a 150-foot ship with medical facilities so that she can perform abortions at sea. Her plan is to sail the seven seas and offer abortions off the coast of any country that prohibits abortions.
What a contrast to Mercy Ships and other good Samaritans who provide medical services to the poor and indigent. Dr. Gompers plans to provide one service: abortion. This "ship of death" would anchor off the coast and ferry pregnant women out to the ship. After the abortion, they would be ferried back to shore and returned home for supper.
Her justification for outfitting this abortion boat is that thousands of women die each year from illegal abortions. The figure is probably an exaggeration, but pales in comparison with the number of women and their children who die of preventable diseases. What does she propose to do for them? Fortunately, Mercy Ships and other Christian organizations stand ready to deal with real problems facing families in third world countries.
Millions of women die each year of anemia (the cause of at least a fourth of post-partum maternal deaths). Millions more die of malnutrition. Nearly 12 million children die of preventable diseases like diarrhea and measles. Nevertheless, Dr. Gompers is raising money to outfit an abortion boat. Excuse me if I think her priorities are out of whack.
Third world countries desperately need medical facilities and their citizens need medical attention. But abortion isn't the medical procedure they need. They need food, medical supplies, and medical attention. They don't need Dr. Gompers' abortion boat.
I'm Kerby Anderson of Probe Ministries, and that's my opinion.