gisw13_chapters

procure a safe medical abortion. These are the firstpeople women reach out to for help.Problems facedThe governments of Saudi Arabia and Yemen blockaccess to the WoW website. In response, WoW islooking at the possibility of developing a mobileabortion app for use in those and other countries.Customs regulations in most countries permitpeople to receive international shipments of medicinesfor personal use. Mifepristone and Misoprostolare on the list of essential medicines of the WHO. 7WoW has a broad network of organisationswilling to honour the intentions of the women whoreach out to have a safe abortion in a country whereonly illegal, unsafe abortions are available.Legal action in the NetherlandsIn 2008 the Dutch Health Inspection requested thepublic prosecutor to start legal procedures againstWomen on Waves. The Inspection claimed thatWomen on Waves did not have a licence to providewomen with an early medical abortion in internationalwaters. The public prosecutor declined,saying there is no indication that Women on Wavesbroke any Dutch law. In 2012 the Dutch Health Inspectionand the Ministry for Health, Welfare andSport again asserted that Women on Waves wasnot licensed to provide an early medical abortion,in response to the Morocco mission. In doing so itprojected a false image that the doctors and staff ofWomen on Waves were acting outside the law, underminingthe credibility of the organisation insideand outside the Netherlands. It failed to protectWomen on Waves in the performance of activitiesthat are legal under Dutch law. It failed to defendWomen on Waves in the international press and putthe lives of the staff of Women on Waves in danger. 8AnalysisThe sister organisations operate in a newly emergingframework in which harm reduction and humanrights merge. The three core principles of harm reductionare neutrality, humanism and pragmatism.1. Neutrality: Harm reduction strategies ignore legaland social contexts and are concerned onlywith the risks and health-related harms of an activity.Public health officials have a professional7 Misoprostol can be used as a morning-after pill, for the cure ofdepression, and as a treatment for gastric ulcers and breast cancer.8 Kleiverda, G., Gomperts, R. and Swaab, E. H. (2012) Women onWaves volkomen legaal, Medisch Contact, November. www.womenonwaves.org/en/page/4030/publicatie-medisch-contactnovember-2012Virgin with safe abortion hotline banner, Quito, Ecuador.Photo: Mrova (www.womenonwaves.org)responsibility to provide, as WoW does, informationabout technologies such as Misoprostol,to minimise women’s personal harms. Publichealth officials should assure client confidentialityand are not part of the legal apparatuspolicing a woman’s adherence to the law.2. Humanism: All individuals have a right to havetheir health needs understood and addressed,regardless of their assigned moral status or deviancefrom laws.3. Pragmatism: Harm reduction recognises thatindividuals choose to participate in an activity177 / Global Information Society Watch