Guatemalan Navy seizes boat that wants to provide free abortion pills to pregnant women

The Guatemalan Navy has seized a boat that sought to defy the country's pro-life laws by taking pregnant women to international waters in order to provide them with abortion-inducing medication.

The boat, run by Dutch pro-abortion group Women on Waves, was detained by the Guatemalan military on Thursday, based on the instructions of President Jimmy Morales, according to AFP.

"The military will not permit this group to carry out its activities in the country," the military stated in a formal complaint to the prosecutor's office.

The boat named Adelaide was supposed to leave port and return to international waters, where it would provide medical or pharmaceutical abortions on unborn babies of up to 10 weeks gestation, according to Life Site News. Guatemalan women were to ferry out to the ship, take the medication and return to the shore in just four hours.

However, Women on Waves spokeswoman Leticia Denedich said that the Quetzal Port Authority ordered the boat to stay at her berth. "They have not cited any legal authority. But it is clear now we will have to go to court," she said.

The arrival of the boat caught the attention of pro-life demonstrators who disrupted the press conference held by Women on Waves.

"They say they are fighting for life and human rights, but it looks like murder has become a human right," said Gil Hernandez, a seminary student from Cuba.

Women on Waves founder Rebecca Gomberts maintained that the group had acquired all the necessary approvals to enter Guatemalan waters and the Port of Quetzal. The activists were ordered by port officials to stay on board the boat, saying they could not go ashore as they had not declared the motive of their trip.

On Thursday, the Guatemalan Congress voted down a motion to take action against the boat. The next day, immigration authorities ordered the expulsion of the ship, saying the members of Women on Waves lied in their entry declaration papers and claimed to be tourists instead of members of a "health organization" that sought to perform abortions. The boat's crew requested permission to set sail on Saturday without seeing any patients.

Under Guatemalan law, abortions are only allowed in cases when the mother's life is at risk. Women on Waves claimed that about 65,000 illegal and unsafe abortions are performed in the country each year. The group urged the government to legalize abortion, saying it is "a regular medical procedure and a human right."