All language subtitles for Vessel (2014)_en

(gentle music)

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(people chattering)

(speaking foreign language)

(crowd clapping, chanting
in foreign language)

- We are now handing out forms

that is a safe-abortion
hotline that we launched

with information that women can call

to get the medicine here in Morocco

that they can use to do a
safe abortion themselves.

(shouting in foreign language)

(somber music)

- It all started when I
was working with Greenpeace

as a ship's doctor in countries
where abortion was illegal.

I'd seen a lot of women
brought in severely bleeding

or in shock because of illegal abortions.

I realize that there is a connection

between the law and the
fact that women are dying.

I could not observe that
and just let it happen.

How could we create a space

where the only permission
a woman needs is her own?

(somber music)

(people chattering)

(speaking foreign language)

(cellphone ringing)

- At one point, the captain
of the Greenpeace ship said,

"if you had a Dutch ship,
you could take women aboard

and sail to international waters,

and legally help them
with a safe abortion."

So I decided to investigate that,

and that is how Women On Waves started.

(dramatic music)

(dramatic music)

(speaking foreign language)

- An abortion in the
Netherlands can only take place

in a special licensed clinic or hospital,

so we built a mobile clinic.

It is a shipping container

outfitted on the inside
with a treatment room.

We didn't need a full clinic
to give abortion with pills,

but we built it to help us
get the medical license.

The idea was to do a private project,

and local Irish women's groups
invited us to come to Ireland

for our maiden voyage.

(gentle music)

(all speaking foreign language)

A group of 10 women
funded the first campaign.

They each put in 10,000 guilders.

Then we needed to rent a
ship, to get ship's insurance,

find a captain and licensed deckhands.

We needed a gynecologist
and the medication.

We applied for the mobile-clinic license.

There was a lot to prepare.

- It's the women without means

that are suffering of the consequences.

- How many you estimate
the participant is?

- Oh, no idea.

- But dozens or hundreds.
- No, no, no, no.

Perhaps less. I don't know. 10, 20...

- With everything in place,
we launched the campaign.

- Bye!
(applauding)

(speaking indistinctly)

Oh! Yay!

- Whoo-hoo!

(gentle music)

- Ireland's one of the last bastions

within the European Union where
so-called "good Catholics"

prevent abortion from coming in,

so they are keen to keep it abortion-free,

which, of course, it's not.

When we sailed out,

this was actually front-page news,

so a lot of women found
it, and they read about it,

and it started generating e-mails.

- As we come in-
- Yeah.

- You should be standing on
the front of the boat, waving.

You need to give them a good photograph.

- Okay, good.
- That's the picture.

It's very clear what
the picture has to be.

- Okay.
- Can you see it on TV?

It's a great picture.

- Yeah, okay, good. Great.
Any other suggestions?

Should I give one sound
bite when we come in...

Just shout one thing?

- I would shout, "I'm taking no questions.

I'll talk to you tomorrow."

I don't think you need to say very much.

"We're here in solidarity
with the Irish people."

- Yeah, I think that's
the best one, actually.

Okay.

I'm getting nervous, guys.

(suspenseful music)

When we left the Netherlands,

what we didn't have

was the official license
for the abortion clinic

in the Netherlands.

However, we thought that that was covered

because we wanted to do

only very early abortions
with the abortion pill,

and that is falling outside
of the Dutch criminal law.

We had applied for the license anyway

before we left the Netherlands,

but it was still in process,

and we expected it would be granted

before we arrived in Ireland.

I think that was one of
the biggest mistakes I made

while this was all playing out

because while we were at sea,

the press published that
we didn't have the license,

and they made it into
a big political issue.

We knew that it might prevent us

from actually doing abortions in Ireland.

But we decided to continue and
sort it out once we arrived.

(lighthearted music)

- For your information there
will be a bridge lift for 8:00.

That's one hour from now.

- A bridge lift, 8:00.

Okay. Thank you.

We will be there.

- So, we are in now, I think.

We are there.

- "Get your murder ship out here."

(ship horn blows)

(ship horn blows)

- Have a good journey?

- Yeah, great.

We're now just coming in,

so we'll just come to wait what happens.

We will give a press conference tomorrow,

and you can ask all the questions there.

The reason why we're here

is to support Irish women's
right to free choice,

and tomorrow we're going
to talk about it much more.

I would like to, tomorrow.

We'll have a press conference tomorrow.

Okay, thank you so much.

(phone ringing)

- Women On Waves.

Yes. Okay.

Yeah, I know what you mean.

I have to ask you a few questions.

Do you know how long she's pregnant?

- You're calling for a friend, right?

You're calling for a friend.

- Did she do a pregnancy test?

Okay.

Three weeks.

Sounds perfect.

- Seems that England is
the best option for you.

We also have clinics in Amsterdam,

but that will be about the
same price to go there.

- And, of course, we never thought

it would be more than like five...

Even one I would have found,
like, very optimistic.

Now we're over 120.

I think we're over, like, almost 130.

- This is the real story.

This is what we're here for.

We came here for these women.

I'm getting frustrated

because I have had about
three women asking me,

"if it's only about treatment with pills,

"why don't you just give me the pills?

I can swallow them by myself."

(cellphone ringing)

And we cannot do that.

Women On Waves.

- By the time we landed,

there had been so much negative
press about the license

that we were forced to say that

we would leave without
doing any abortions.

And, um...

You know what the terrible thing is?

We have everything, everything
except that license paper.

Everything is there.

- The Irish people have
voted no to abortion.

All the referendum have
said no to abortion.

Doctors and nurses are
supposed to save lives,

not murder babies.

We've got lovely children here.

How would any of you photographers

or media or nurses or doctors

like to be killed in
your own mother's womb?

Would you like to be murdered?

Go back to Holland.

- Good morning.

We are here in solidarity
with the Irish women

who have been denied their human right.

This is just the first of many
trips that we plan to make.

This is the first time that
we started this project.

We're running into things that
have not been anticipated.

We cannot help it at this moment.

I cannot tell you how much
my heart bleeds for this.

The only way to change the situation

is if Irish government
is legalizing abortion,

as every country all over the world

where abortion is illegal.

We can never, ever, ever
provide enough services

to all these women that
are in such desperate need.

Do you really think that

we would have put so much
effort in a thing like that?

- Thank you very much.

(people chattering)

(somber music)

- Yeah?

- They're a mean bunch.

- Mean bunch.

Did I do all right?
- You did fine.

You did exactly right.

- And everybody did really good.

- Or a sandwich?

- I don't want to eat, actually.

Thanks. No, thank you.

Um...

- That's a long pause. (chuckles)

- Well, you know, the, yeah.

- I'm standing onboard
The Aurora Right now.

- What the press was doing...

They were really tough
that we let women down.

They said we had created
hope for women to be helped,

and that we set them up,
and I thought that was,

kind of, so unfair.

- "Guilty" is such a strong word,

but feel you a kind of guiltiness

against these women who counted on you?

- What's come out.

- So, are you disappointed you
can't fulfill your mission?

- We're doing this because of the women,

not because of my mission.

I, you know, I don't think
that's an appropriate question

because there are 45 million abortions

taking place each year.

There's no medical intervention

that has been done more than abortions.

But it's just because it's
women, and it's invisible,

and it's just a silent slavery, and they

don't talk about it, but
nobody fucking knows.

- Also, the personal
experience of abortion.

- No, don't try, it's too easy.

All these hundreds of
people that are involved,

they are all doing this with their hearts,

and not because they had an abortion.

I mean, are you going to
ask somebody working for

amnesty international whether
they have been tortured?

Come on, that's not the issue.

The issue is, do women have
really basic human right

to be able to decide

what is happening with their own bodies?

- That was a real bad question to ask.

- Oh, I don't care.

I mean, there's, it's okay.

Shall we go outside and
just hand out the pills?

I really would love to do that. (laughing)

Fuck that.
- Go, girl. Go, girl.

- What we didn't realize is that

actually people forget what happened.

The only thing that people remember

is there is this organization,

they have a ship, and they do abortions.

Bye!

The campaign in Ireland put us on the map.

(ship horn blows)

When we came back in
the Netherlands, we got

the letter from the
Dutch minister of health

that these early abortions

are not covered by the Dutch abortion law

and that we could, indeed, do
these early medical abortions

on a ship without a license.

That was the moment that
we continued organizing

the next campaign.

- You're called here the doctor of death,

the angel of death, the ship of death.

Doctors are generally associated

with health and curing,
making people better,

but here you're associated

with removing the beginning of life.

- And still, my experience as a doctor,

in that sense, is totally different.

It's so clear, if you speak to women,

what is really at stake and
what's happening and why.

(gentle music)

When I was 8, my mother brought me

to visit a Greenpeace ship.

That moment made such a big impression me

that when I studied medicine,
it was always connected

to changing the world and social justice.

When I was at medical school,

I don't know even if I really realized

what it meant to be a doctor.

I just didn't feel at
home in a white coat.

There was something really missing,

so I decided to go to art school.

It was evening school because I still,

of course, had the
medical school to go to.

What I learned then is
to look, really look,

and to go beyond the first possibilities.

And that was so exciting because at that

moment, it was like the
whole world broke open.

After medical school, I
became an abortion provider,

and then I volunteered at Greenpeace.

I think Women On Waves...
It's a very good melding

of the medical, the activism, and the art.

(beep)

(woman speaking foreign language)

- (chanting) Welcome, Nazis!

- Welcome, welcome, welcome!

- No, no! Leave her alone!

- Let's go back. We don't
want them to jump on.

We don't want them to
project on the ship. Come on.

The Polish women's
groups had warned us that

there is a very well-organized
anti-abortion movement.

But I had never dealt with
this kind of aggression.

(thuds)

We have to paint the ship again because we

promised to bring it back
in the original state.

(reporter speaking in foreign language)

- I know Women On Waves
from when their boat

appeared in Poland.

I really remember Rebecca
being on television,

and she let everyone clearly see

that there are women in
Poland that need abortions,

that there are drugs to provoke it,

and this was a symbolic action,

yet with very, very pragmatic effect.

They just came and were
absolutely not apologetic that

they are going to provide this service.

I thought it was majorly cool, actually.

- Just get right behind him.

- We're still walking.

(ominous music)

- Yeah, oh, man.

I'm so sorry for you.

- Hi, guys.
- Hi.

- Good, you're here. Good, you're here.

- We just got egged.

- Hotline number, great, guys.

I love this.

(man speaking foreign language)

In the three days that we have been here,

we have been insulted,
harassed, and intimidated.

- This member of Polish parliament

organizing actions against the ship...

He threatened to photograph women

who may be entering the port,

and we cannot allow it.

(ominous music)

- Here we go.

- To the harbor. To the harbor.

- What is really unique
about this campaign

was that everybody was talking about it.

The discussion went much more beyond

on the abortion rights and women

and reproductive health, et cetera.

It went about,

"are they allowed within
the European Union

to just come to Poland and, you know,

claim and proclaim another
values and another opinions

than the 'so-called' Polish society has?"

(lighthearted music)

- We never said that we would do abortions

or that we did do abortions,
but every time we sailed out,

all the pills were counted
before we were sailing

and after we came back,
and then headline news was

"five pills missing, five
abortion pills missing."

And so they knew there
were abortions happening.

(laughs)

(speaking foreign language)

- Okay.

(people chattering)

They were really trying to prove

that we did something that
was not according to the law,

but they weren't able to do that.

(gentle music)

- In many countries
where abortion is legal,

in the clinic, women are given pills,

and then the actual abortion,
the actual miscarriage,

takes place at home, and it is
a standard, routine practice,

and the same happens on the ship.

- Can you read what's on the GPS for me?

- Yes, 54 degrees 59.57
north, 18 degrees 40 east.

- Okay.

Now I give you the pills with some water.

Just from your hands, okay?

It's okay. You can take your time.

Okay.

Okay, so we're still
outside territorial waters.

(chuckles)

- Yes.

- I am the generation that
was raised in oblivion

that abortion does not exist

and doesn't happen in this country,

so it brought back this
perspective in the public discourse

that there actually

are some women in Poland
that might need abortion

and might be even that desperate

to board the ship and have
the services done there.

For me, personally,

it was the inspiration to try
to join this organization.

- When we do the next
campaign, to Portugal,

we felt more experienced.

We had raised enough money.

The crew was from before,

so we knew when we were going to sail.

We could get the abortion pills.

The clinic was in place.

The local groups were
very good in mobilizing.

So we thought, okay, this is
not going to be very difficult.

(indistinct shouting)

(beep)

(woman speaking foreign language)

When the ship was on its way,
I was already in Portugal.

In the middle of the night,

I got a phone call from
the ship's captain that

the Portuguese government
had sent two warships

to stop the ship from
sailing into national waters.

(speaking foreign language)

- It's very clear that
the Portuguese government

is violating all international
and national agreements.

The ship is being
contacted by the Portuguese

marine, asking what its intentions are.

I mean, no ship, this is an
officially registered ship.

It's not a threat to the
national security of Portugal.

We've always been quite creative
in solving all obstacles

that we have faced till now,

so I'm sure we'll come up with something.

Thank you. Bye-bye.

So, what do you think of this, people?

It's like we're at war with
the Portuguese government.

Unfortunately, we don't have
the weapons and the ships.

(speaks foreign language)

(man speaking foreign language)

- Okay, does everybody know what happened?

That the Portuguese government

doesn't allow the ship in national waters?

A country can only refuse
access to national waters

when there is an imminent threat

to the security of this country.

Okay, you know, helping
Portuguese women...

Is that an imminent threat
to the security of Portugal?

Interesting question.

We're, of course, going
to test the waters.

Tomorrow, we go to, go with
some of the television channels

to the ship,

and the ship is going
to request access again

to the Portuguese waters.

(cellphone rings)

Can we put out our mobile phones?

- It's the hotline.

- Okay. Take it.

- It was the first time that
I participated in a campaign,

a real campaign, for women's rights.

We were basically two
girls answering the phone,

and we were trained by the Dutch team.

They wanted to go to the
boat to have an abortion.

At that point, we couldn't help them

because we couldn't have the boat in.

(birds squawking)

I think in the beginning
we were very pissed off,

thinking the campaign was failing

because the ship couldn't get in,

but at a certain point, we realized that

that was the best thing
that could ever happen

because we had media
coverage from everywhere,

as though the warship
was even more spectacular

than the abortion boat itself.

(dramatic music)

(ship horn blowing)

- Portugal! (laughs)

(speaking foreign language)

- We did bring food, and
people visited the ship,

but the piloting boats were not willing

to bring women along.

It was impossible to find a local ship

that was willing to do that.

They were scared of getting arrested.

(people chattering)

(speaking foreign language)

(cellphone rings)

- Women On Waves.

We have hundreds and hundreds
of calls in two weeks.

Basically, all the calls
that came in the hotline

were women seeking help.

Eventually, we could see this

as just another medical
procedure, but it's not just that

because it's connected to
all the representations

that you have of what
it means to be a woman,

what it means to be a
mother, what is motherhood.

It troubles you because

it can be a lot of questioning about it,

and if you ask someone that just says,

"maybe you can solve this,"

of course, that should be a huge relief.

(speaking foreign language)

But it's important because it allows you

to choose the path of your life

and to take your life back

where you had it when you got pregnant.

"You couldn't help them,
so what are you doing?"

Well, a big media scene, yes,

and that's very nice to
talk about the subject,

but women continue every day
to have unwanted pregnancy,

and they cannot wait

for law to change or the
boat to come, you know?

So you need an answer immediately.

- Did you discuss the
issue of the abortion ship

with the president just now?

- So the decision has been taken

not to allow the ship to port?

- Thank you very much.

- Okay.

(somber music)

- The Navy will board the ship.

- Oh, so it will be seized?
- Yes.

- Here's what they want to do...

Delay the process, throw it out,

get it in the courts,
and keep the ship out.

- And so we went to court,

and what we heard was that

a judge was actually
called by the government

a couple of times,

and so it seems that there
was a lot of pressure

put on the judge.

(speaking foreign language)

(speaking foreign language)

- At that point, we decided
to change strategies.

There was now so much evidence that

the pills were safe for
women to use on their own

that we decided, if women
couldn't get to the ship,

we would help women
get the pills directly.

(lighthearted music)

Okay, let's get in.

At that moment, the hotline
was not giving any information

about how women can use
misoprostol themselves.

But you cannot stop women
from accessing something

they have a right to,

so we decided that we
would publicly announce

how to do an abortion
yourself using misoprostol.

- It was a decision of Rebecca.

It was not a decision
of the group to do that

because the groups were very afraid,

because they were doing something illegal.

- Do we have a safety pin?

(speaking foreign language)

(speaking foreign language)

You will have simultaneous translations.

- Good. Good.

(speaking foreign language)

- Aah! Too much. (laughs)

- No.

- Can it be a little bit less?

- What you see here is different

from what you're going to see on TV.

- She has it too. Okay.

(laughs)

- Ready!

(upbeat music)
(audience applauding)

(speaking foreign language)

- I was very nervous because

I wasn't quite sure how it would work out

with the law and things.

I hadn't looked into the
legal issues there at all.

I just decided to do it.

(interpreter speaking foreign language)

(speaking foreign language)

(interpreter speaking foreign language)

(speaking foreign language)

(upbeat music)
(audience applauding)

- Hey, thanks. Bye.

(audience applauding)

Thank you so much for having us here.

Yeah. Yes, I am.

- How... for how many weeks?

- About 10, 11 weeks. Yeah.

- Congratulations.
- I never...

- First child?
- Yes, it is.

- I have one with 4 years in the house.

- Oh, that's so nice.
- She's big already.

- Oh, yeah. It's nice.

It's very nice. If it's
wanted, it's delicious.

Once I told the media that
I'd actually had an abortion,

this was turned into kind
of this motive story,

and I think I just wanted
to show another side,

where you can be pregnant
and that you can be a mother

and be supportive of abortion rights.

For me, it's really a very personal thing,

especially now, and I never had that.

Before, I always felt that
I want to have it on this

abstract level, that it
wasn't about my personal life.

But what's happening now is so
much about my personal life.

I feel that this experience of mine

is relevant at this moment.

It was never before.

(baby cooing)

So it was okay to put
forward this different image

of what an abortion-rights
activist looks like.

Are you going to fall? Yep.

(baby coos)

Yeah.

Yeah.

(speaking foreign language)

So, Women On Waves brought the case

to the European court of human rights,

and we won this court case.

The verdict said that
Portuguese government

had violated our freedom to
expression by stopping the ship

from entering Portuguese national waters,

so we got 2,000 Euros.

(lighthearted music)

- The campaign had a huge positive impact

in changing the law.

You cannot just attribute
to someone that success.

But, of course, the campaign
was very, very important.

- The decision to publicly announce

how women can do an abortion
themselves with misoprostol

on live television was
a very important change

in the strategy because it suddenly meant

that it was out of control
of the medical professions,

and that it is something that women can

actually handle themselves
and do themselves.

- It was definitely a breakthrough.

It was a breakthrough for
Women On Waves to do it,

and nobody has ever done it before.

All of a sudden, very many
e-mails started to come,

first from Portuguese women, but later on,

literally from all around the world.

Every story of a woman
that writes is different,

and it's very difficult to
generalize this experience

because abortion is very common.

It made us realize the power of Internet

and how much can be done

the moment that you start
spreading the information

that should have been there already.

- Over the next two years,

I continued to work on the
hotline as Women On Waves.

It felt so good when you could tell,

"well, you cannot go to the boats,

but maybe you can buy in
the pharmacy this medicine,

"and you can use it this way," and so on.

And I think, from that point,

helping individual women
started to be more important,

besides political campaign

or political actions as the boat campaign.

- Just like with any
other medical procedure,

of course there is a certain risk,

but you have to see this risk as relative.

It's 1 in 300 women that
dies from unsafe abortion,

where it's 1 in 500,000 women

that dies from a safe abortion.

That's way safer than giving birth,

and it's equally safe as a miscarriage.

(lighthearted music)

What you are doing is ethical because

you are giving information
to a woman so she can decide,

because it's usually about survival

and not about choosing the better option.

You have to let god and the woman

discuss it between themselves.

- When this was announced, that
it would be on our website.

Instructions how to do
an abortion yourself.

The pills were shown, it
was all over the media.

We could barely manage all
the e-mails from women.

Then we thought, "this
information is so simple.

Local activists could
run their own hotlines."

I wanted to return to South America,

where I'd worked with Greenpeace,

but it was so far to go with the ship,

so when an Ecuadorian youth
organization invited us,

we decided to help them
open a hotline there.

So, we might want to
think about an action...

To launch the hotline... And
then the press conference.

I know. They don't come.

- Maybe if we do something
amazing they would cover.

- Well, we were thinking in airplane

about hanging a banner
from the virgin, or...

- A banner from the virgin?
- Yes.

(speaking foreign language)

(laughing)

- Yeah, we have to make
a big banner for that.

- Big, big, big banner.

(speaking foreign language)

- Well, you know how you
can get up there, and get...

- No, we can go and see tomorrow.

- Yeah, shall we do sightseeing tomorrow?

(lighthearted music)

It would be so nice to
hang it from her hand,

but it's impossible, huh?

- If we can do it, it's the first option.

And the second option
is to hang it from here.

- It should be packed here
with women to block it.

- Yeah, we should have a lot of women here

to block the entrance.

- No, I have an idea!

The press release is
"occupation of the virgin."

We are occupying the
virgin with a lot of women,

for a couple of hours.

- That would give a lot of press, really,

for the whole country.

Yeah.

- There are two guards there,

so we'll need some beautiful
blondes to distract them.

- They'll take us to jail.

That's for sure.

- Are you sure?
- If we stay here.

- Do you think that if you do this,

a lot of people who are on the verge

of saying yes to abortion,
that they will say,

"well, if they occupy the
virgin, I will say no"?

- I think the virgin is
better than the church,

going to the basilica and putting...

- This is a virgin with
change in her hands.

It's so nice to make that our symbol.

- Yeah.

- Hola.
- Hola.

- Too big that we don't see the...

(speaking foreign language)

We can use her as a symbol of womanhood.

(speaking foreign language)

- Okay.

When people move beyond
the fear of backlash,

they can do actually much more

than they were made to believe.

What I learned

is that you always have to have an

offensive strategy in
order to create change

because the fear of backlash
is the same as self-censorship.

- I don't know if there's
some things that we must

take care of saying when
we talk on the hotline.

- Also, we don't know the context here.

(speaking foreign language)

- Do you know how much women know

about possibilities to
provoke miscarriage,

such as misoprostol?

- Very, very little.
- Very little.

So it's also building a network.

- Mm-hmm.

- And is it forbidden
to provide information?

- No.

(speaking foreign language)

(lighthearted music)

(conversing in foreign language)

- One thing I do want to
bring up, though, about

going to the hospital after,

is that they really can't tell

that you've taken the medications

unless they find the pills.

- I was pushing you,
and you got irritated.

Never, ever get irritated with the press.

You will not convince anybody
when you're like this.

You know what you do?

You take a deep breath, you smile.

Be sweet. Be soft.

Don't be a butch that is "ba, ba!"

Be lovely. Use that. Seduce.

You have to seduce the people
that look at you, okay?

(people chattering)

- Can we all pray that
it's not going to rain?

(speaking foreign language)

(gentle music)

(speaking in foreign language)

- Annemarie does great work.

She's still talking with this policeman.

It's unbelievable.

The policemen didn't see anything.

(both laugh)

(speaking foreign language)

- Yeah, what did you talk to
the cops about for so long?

- I talked about me
learning Spanish, mainly,

and what's there to do in Quito,

and where I want to go,
and if the beach is nice.

(cellphone beeping)

(laughs)

- 62.

- Yeah, those are the calls that happened

when this was turned off.

That's in one hour and a half.

(laughs)

(speaking foreign language)

(metal music)

(speaking foreign language)

(speaking foreign language)

(woman speaking foreign language)

(speaking foreign language)

(horn honks)

(speaking foreign language)

- The Ecuadorian youth group...

Just much more subversive strategies

in reaching out to women.

And we hadn't worked with that before.

It boosted our whole creative approach

to how can you get the
information to women,

and that is very interesting
and very exciting.

In some of the countries,
what happened is that

the anti-abortion groups find out

that women use the misoprostol
for medical abortion,

and this first happened in Brazil,

and the Brazilian government

then banned the sales for misoprostol

in the pharmacies.

- It is a question of basic justice.

I find it completely schizophrenic that

you can go in a clinic
in Holland, let's say,

or the United States,

and get a pill, go home, take it yourself,

get the same basic
information how to do it,

and you cannot provide this service

to a woman in Philippines
or in Ireland or in Brazil.

So women would be
writing to us and saying,

"could you please help
us getting the pill?"

And it's hard to say no to something that

is a very reasonable request, in fact,

because yes, there are pills,
and yes, there is no medical

or scientific reason
not to give it to you.

There are women that need this pill.

There must be a way to get it to them.

- So Women On Web was created...

A separate sister organization
to Women On Waves.

Women On Web is an online service

where a woman can request
a medical abortion.

She takes an online
consultation with a doctor,

and then a package with the abortion pills

is sent by post to her home address.

Special-trained volunteers then
help her through the process

of taking the pills via e-mail.

We have been able to
find the legal loopholes

to make this possible.

- Medical abortion is
a major political power

in hands of women.

That's why it is considered a revolution.

It's as simple as this...

The government could have stopped the ship

but will never be able
to stop the Internet.

(somber music)

(speaking foreign language)

(speaking indistinctly)

- Okay.

- It's not only the
controversy of abortion

that creates reactions and
attention and discussion.

It's about this other symbolic gesture.

The ship is a symbol of freedom...

Has always been...

But it's been a male domain.

When women take charge,

it somehow triggers the
fantasy and hopes of people.

(ship horn blows)

(ship horn blows)

(indistinct shouting, applause)

- Everybody's waiting for us,

so we have to say hello to them.

Just a minute.

It's okay.

Now to shore, yeah.

(ship horn blows)

(audience applauding)
(audience cheering)

(sirens wailing)

(crowd chanting in foreign language)

(audience applauding)
(audience cheering)

(crowd chanting in foreign language)

(conversing in foreign language)

- It is important.

(drums playing)

(speaking foreign language)

- Okay, hold the boat.

(cheers and applause)

(all chanting in foreign language)

(cheers and applause)

(cheers and applause)

(shouts indistinctly)

(cheers and applause)

(somber music)

I have two children,

and I know how much it
takes to be a good parent,

and if somebody cannot do
that or doesn't want to,

the misery that that creates.

I think my fundamental philosophy

is the reduction of suffering,

and I think the right to safe abortion...

It's what it does.

It reduces suffering from those women,

and eventually the whole
family, the whole society.

(smooching)

Bye, baby.

(people chattering)

- Is that the press boat?

(all speaking foreign language)

(camera shutter clicks)

- We are in international waters.

You traveled a long distance,

and if you want to end the pregnancy,

I have a pill for you.

(man speaks indistinctly on intercom)

Okay.

- Okay.
- Okay.

(somber music)

- The anti-abortion
groups had mentioned that

they would release the names
and the pictures of women

that would seek help with the ship,

so we set up a structure
that there would be

a lot of female volunteers
onboard the ship, as well,

and so it would be unclear who
were the women seeking help.

(speaking foreign language)

It works, huh?

You don't know who it is, huh?

The intent of the law is to
guarantee good health care,

but if good health care is
not accessible within the law,

then what does the law mean?

(dramatic music)

So the law changed, but
the effort that is needed

to change the law, and the results,

are actually very limited,

so I think that, at this point,

it's much more effective
to try to make sure that

women have access to the
medicines and information

despite the laws.

We are now targeting places in the world

where the laws are deeply embedded,

and it's too dangerous to
do publicity campaigns.

So we go in quietly and
train people directly.

In Tanzania, we created
this whole training manual

based on dissemination of information

through word of mouth or other means.

- Let me tell you, this
is a learning experience

for all of us,

and after these four days, you will become

trainers that can train
a lot of local women.

- There had been a lot of countries

where misoprostol has been registered

for the use of postpartum hemorrhage...

So heavy bleeding after giving birth.

So we added the protocol, for prevention

on postpartum hemorrhage
using misoprostol.

Also, we taught them how women
can do an abortion themselves

with the same pills.

And they were flabbergasted

that there was actually the possibility

to do a safe abortion with a medicine.

(speaking foreign language)

- "There is nothing."

- For them it was a very
deeply emotional moment

because it was immediately confronted

with all the people that they lost

that perhaps could have used this,

and it's this overwhelmingly
sad feeling...

"Why didn't I know this before?"

- Very moving.

(interpreter speaking foreign language)

Well, okay, it's a prescription medicine,

and that is why there
are two pharmacies here.

It will be to make sure...

To get the pharmacies
to get the misoprostol.

(people chattering)

By teaching the people in the training

to create demand for the pills,

it will stimulate the
availability of supplies

without risking legal liability,

because they can always say

it is to prevent women from
dying after giving birth.

Hello, pharmacist.

I would like to buy misoprostol.

- What's wrong with you?

- I need to end my pregnancy.

(speaking foreign language)

- Ah!
- "Ah!"

(laughing)

Okay, so he won't give me, so I will say,

"my sister is going to give birth,

but I live from a village very far away,

and there's four more pregnant women,

so I would need to have
at least 20 tablets."

(speaking foreign language)

- Because we will not be able
to travel here to you again.

(speaking foreign language)

(speaking foreign language)

- For that...

(speaking foreign language)

- Because it's a serious problem

and it's for the well-being
of women, I can help.

- No problem. So...
(applause)

So women will have to come
up with stories sometimes

to be able to get the medicines.

- Okay.
- Okay.

(applause)

(laughing)

- Hello. This is Kinga Jelinska speaking,

and there are actually many people

that want to get in touch
with you as a distributor.

Is that good?

Oh, wow, wonderful.

I'm glad to hear it.

I am here with a person
that has a pharmacy in Congo

and would be really interested
to get the drug from you.

Okay, thank you.

- We're setting up a smuggling route here.

Well, it would be good...

Finally a good reason to do it, right?

Instead of guns and diamonds
and things, like, you know,

it's better to do it for women's health.

(gentle music)

(speaking foreign language)

(speaking foreign language)

(conversing in foreign language)

- After the training,

besides continuing to train other people,

they set up a pharmacy
that sells misoprostol

and that continues to work till today.

(gentle music)

- There's now all these
people around the world

that are working to help women

get access to safe
abortions with medicines.

(speaking foreign language)

(speaking foreign language)

- The girls from the hotline in Ecuador

were involved in training in Argentina,

in Chile, in Peru, and even Venezuela,

so they act as trainers and
show it in flesh and blood

that you actually can do it yourself.

(people chattering)

- In these meetings,
people get conscious that

other people are doing the same thing,

and they think, "I'm not alone."

(speaking indistinctly)

- It's about taking responsibility

and about taking power
over one's own life.

I don't think women are so
scared to do that, actually.

It might be that the world

is scared of women that are doing that.

(chuckles)

- There are also some countries globally

where abortion is "supposedly" legal,

but it's not accessible for women.

These countries, for example,
the United States of America.

There are very many women
in the United States

that simply cannot afford the services,

and they sometimes write to
us and ask for an advice,

and it's a very worrisome trend.

- When you think about it, of course,

you feel little and powerless, of course,

but maybe you also concentrate a lot

on the women that we help,

even though it's just a
little drop in the ocean.

- Once we headed back
to our mooring place,

there were 30 or 40 policemen.

They turned everything
in the boat upside-down,

and I even fought with one of those men.

That's why I have a
blue bruise on my arm...

More bruises on my arm.

And they escorted us out of the harbor.

But they were able to launch the hotline.

That's the most important thing.

(chanting in foreign language)

(shouting in foreign language)

(shouting in foreign language)

(chanting in foreign language)
(drums playing)

- If you empower women themselves
to do medical abortions,

it will undermine this
kind of legal construct

that the anti-abortion
groups are putting in place.

But it means that you have to have trust

in individual women.

(ship horn blows)

Women will make it happen.

Women will take control over this.

(cellphone rings)

(woman speaks foreign language)

(somber music)

(somber music continues)

(somber music continues)