London (CNSNews.com) - Ahead of the scheduled arrival in Dublin Thursday of a Dutch ship offering abortions, Irish pro-lifers are planning to launch a boat of their own - a lifeboat they say will offer women the choice of life over death.

Operation Babe Watch, as it is called, is part of the response by Human Life International (Ireland), according to the Roman Catholic organization's director, Patrick McCrystal. "Our initiative is to counteract the deadly propaganda advanced by these Dutch abortion propagators," he explained.

"To women who may be influenced by this Dutch initiative we are inviting them instead to come aboard our boat...we'll help support your choice for life - and [give] guaranteed practical support during and after your pregnancy."

HLI spokesperson David Walsh said the lifeboat, called the Prospector, was expected to sail into Dublin docks on Thursday.

Also Thursday, the pro-abortion Women on Waves group's floating abortion clinic is due to dock in the port on its maiden voyage. While there, it will hold workshops and offer abortion and contraception advice. It also plans on several occasions to sail beyond the 12-mile limit to carry out abortions, which are illegal under Irish law, a spokesperson confirmed earlier.

'Culture of Life'

On the pro-life lifeboat, Walsh said by phone from Dublin, would be counselors, priests and medical staff, available to advise and help anyone on these issues, "offering the life choice for mother and unborn child."

The boat would "monitor the operations of the Dutch abortion ship," he said, with the main aim being to offer "peaceful, prayerful and silent witness to the culture of life."

Asked whether the HLI boat would dock near the Dutch one, or follow it out to sea on its abortion voyages, Walsh said it was possible.

"We will be monitoring whatever they will be doing [but] we're non-confrontational. There'll be no verbal abuse, no banners.

"We'll be taking appropriate and proper and measured responses without over-reacting to anything that they do ... the bottom line for us is nothing less than the conversion of those who are promoting the culture of death."

Operation Babe-Watch would also have two other parts, said HLI director McCrystal.

The second strategy would be to hold prayers 14 hours a day for as long as the Women on Waves ship was in Ireland. A rotation was being drawn up to ensure the intercession was uninterrupted from 8am to 10pm daily. Supporters around the country would be fasting and praying too, he said.

A third approach would be peaceful prayer services at the dockside, but with no protest banners or anything else that could be regarded as confrontational.

McCrystal said he had a message for the Dutch group: "You are offering an instant answer but a serious long-term problem to women. We are offering life to the full, both in this life and the next. Your efforts are an insult to Irish women and the majority of the Irish people."

'Stunt'

A spokesperson for Women on Waves in Ireland said he had heard reports about opponents' plans to launch a lifeboat.

"Anybody can take a boat and sail out into Dublin bay or the Irish Sea," he said. "We're not overly concerned about that.

"If they pull a stunt like this ... we'll try not to be deflected by whoever it is who's sending a boat out. Our concern is to be able to provide some sort of service to the women who come looking for service."

Asked how any protests would be handled, he said the group wanted to be "dignified" and hoped opponents would be so too.

"We're happy to engage in debate with anyone who opposes abortion being available in Ireland, but we hope they will be dignified in their dealings with the boat and with anybody who wants to make inquiries [at the boat] and that they will not be disruptive."

The spokesperson confirmed the organizers were coordinating their efforts with the Irish police and that the ship itself would have its own security.

It was reported earlier that the Dutch government said doctors onboard the abortion ship would be breaking the law if they terminated pregnancies without a license. The group had applied for a clinic license but had not yet received it, ministers confirmed.

The Women on Waves spokesperson denied there was a problem, saying the group had already taken legal advice.

"We will be completely legal in relation to Dutch law and in relation to European law" for whatever goes on onboard the ship.

"This is the first time this sort of project has been done. If there are supposedly complications in Dutch law that will be resolved in the Dutch parliament. As things stand, we've checked out the requirements of Dutch law and we will be legal."

He said there had been "quite a lot of interest" in the ship locally. Since a phone number was publicized several days ago, about 40 women had called with "inquiries about the services that are available."

Thirty-three percent of respondents in a poll by the Irish Independent newspaper said the arrival of the boat was "providing a choice," while 28 percent saw it as a publicity stunt. Twenty-one percent thought the vessel "should be stopped" and 16 percent said that it would "make no difference." Only three percent of respondents thought the arrival would increase the number of abortions in Ireland.

Battle in the North

In Northern Ireland, meanwhile, a High Court judge in Belfast Wednesday granted pro-abortion campaigners leave for a judicial review into the abortion law there.

Although ruled by Britain - and now under limited self rule - Northern Ireland was left out when Britain legalized abortion on demand in 1967. Up to 2,000 women travel to England for abortions each year, according to the Family Planning Association.

The FPA wants to force the health authorities to introduce the same rights in the province as are in place in the rest of the UK, saying the current situation is "confusing."

Pro-lifers rejected the argument that the current legal situation is ambiguous, saying this was merely a "cynical ploy."

"By claiming that Northern Ireland's abortion law is in need of clarification, the FPA is employing the same tactic used by pro-abortionists in Britain and elsewhere," said Betty Gibson of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) in Northern Ireland.

Gibson rejected the claim, saying the law was perfectly clear.

SPUC national director, John Smeaton, who attended the hearing in Belfast, said the large majority of the province's people, both unionist and nationalist, opposed the liberalization of the abortion law.