Ode to Rebecca Gomperts | Fighter for abortion rights

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“Fighting for what is right, makes life worth living,” said Aletta Jacobs in 1921, a Dutch physician, feminist and pacifist. Words that could also have come from the mouth of Paramaribo-born Rebecca Gomperts. She was rightly awarded the Aletta Jacobs Prize 2022 from the University of Groningen for her fight for abortion rights and access to safe and legal abortion for women worldwide. For 40 years, Rebecca has fought impressively for abortion rights from Amsterdam as a doctor, feminist and activist. Like Aletta Jacobs, she courageously and tirelessly advocates for women around the world. Because it was and is not a danger-free struggle. By acting controversially and creatively, and by not being afraid of the devil, she has ensured that abortion has risen high on the political agenda in many countries.

Just as Aletta Jacobs worked for years to help women in the working-class neighborhoods of Amsterdam who did not have access to medical care and education, Rebecca helps women in Amsterdam and around the world by providing information, courses and medication. And just as Aletta introduced the pessary as a contraceptive giving women a choice, Rebecca introduced the abortion pill in many countries as a safe and effective means of birth control. As the founder of Women on Waves, Rebecca was listed in Time magazine's 2020 list of the 100 most influential people in the pioneering category.

Rebecca's fight is still desperately needed. Worldwide, nearly one in three pregnancies ends in abortion, but at the same time, access to safe abortion is declining in many countries. For example, in the United States, where more and more states are enacting strict abortion laws.  According to Rebecca, abortion is not a medical issue, but a human right that is being violated worldwide. Since the abortion pill became available, maternal deaths from unsafe abortion have dropped from 100,000 to 25,000 per year in 20 years.

Although she has accomplished much with her activism, her work is far from finished. Gomperts: “That so many women still do not have access to abortion care is a great social injustice. On the one hand this is because of the legislation in a country, but money also plays a big role. If you have no money and no decent health insurance, you cannot afford an abortion. Women who are then forced to have a child anyway often still live in poverty years later. The best way to keep people poor is to force them to have children they cannot care for. Only privileged women with money and information do have access to abortion, even if it is forbidden in their country.