Rebecca Gomperts

Rebecca Gomperts (born 1966) is a Dutch physician and activist for women's rights, in particular abortion rights. She is the founder of Women on Waves and Women on Web, which provide reproductive health services for women in countries where they are not available. In 2013 and 2014, Gomperts was included in the BBC's 100 Women. In 2018, she founded Aid Access, which operates in the United States. A trained abortion specialist and activist, she is generally considered the first abortion rights activist to cross international borders.

Gomperts was included in Times 100 Most Influential People in 2020.

Early life and education Rebecca Gomperts was born in 1966 in Paramaribo in Suriname. Her family moved to the Netherlands when she was three years old and she grew up in the harbor town of Vlissingen. Although she grew up in a small town, an international consciousness was instilled in her that would drive her future career.

In 2011, she completed a Masters of Public Policy at Princeton University and in 2014 she was awarded a PhD from the Karolinska Institutet.

Career

Early career After graduating from medical school, Gomperts worked in a small hospital in Guiana as a trainee doctor. As of 1997, she was a 31-year-old doctor based in Amsterdam who performed legal abortions.

Gomperts used contacts she had made during art school to help her design and fund a mobile clinic. Dr. Gomperts said they already had in place the $50,000 mobile clinic that was being built to be placed aboard a ship; she and her colleagues needed to raise $190,000 to charter a Dutch ship. The grant for the mobile clinic came from the Mondriaan Foundation. Using the grant from the Mondriaan Foundation, Women on Waves rented a boat on which the mobile clinic would be held. Concerns expressed included the safety of patients traveling to and from the ship, follow-up care to avoid infection, and whether Women on Waves would even be allowed to anchor in some ports to offer training, contraceptives and information.

Women on Waves made many voyages. News spread quickly that Gomperts was trying to reach countries where abortion was illegal, and many nations took measures to stop her. On one of Gomperts's trips to Portugal, her mobile clinic was not allowed to dock. Gomperts appeared on a Portuguese talk show instead. The work was reportedly finally not removed due to the inability to find a ladder high enough (sic).

Women on Web In 2005, Gomperts' founded Women on Web. As of 2016, Women on Web was receiving more than 10,000 emails a month from more than 123 countries. who complete online forms, exclude contraindications, and report a gestation of 10 weeks or less. As of 2023, Aid Access has provided the prescriptions through American health care providers.

Research Rebecca Gomperts has co-authored numerous scientific papers, including:

Telemedicine for medical abortion: a systematic review, M Endler, A Lavelanet, A Cleeve, B Ganatra, R Gomperts...BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology 126 (9), 1094-1102

Using telemedicine for termination of pregnancy with mifepristone and misoprostol in settings where there is no access to safe services, RJ Gomperts, K Jelinska, S Davies, K Gemzell‐Danielsson, G Kleiverda, BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology 115 (9), 1171-1178

Self reported outcomes and adverse events after medical abortion through online telemedicine: population based study in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, ARA Aiken, I Digol, J Trussell, R Gomperts, bmj 357

Requests for abortion in Latin America related to concern about Zika virus exposure, ARA Aiken, JG Scott, R Gomperts, J Trussell, M Worrell, CE Aiken, New England Journal of Medicine 375 (4), 396-398

Recognition and awards

2001: Ms magazine Women of the year

2002: Clara Meijer-Wichmann medal

2002: Women making History award by Planned Parenthood of New York City

2004: “Margaret Sanger Woman of Valor Award” Planned Parenthood New York City

2005: The 1000 PeaceWomen are activists from around the world who were collectively nominated for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize

2005: Rosie Jimenez Award from the Women's Medical Fund

2007: Global Women’s Rights Awards, Feminist Majority Foundation, Los Angeles, USA

2011: First "Women Deliver 100" list marks 100th International Women's Day, featuring women and men who have fought to improve girls' and women's lives worldwide

2012: Allan Rosenfield Award for Lifetime Contributions to International Family Planning by the Society of Family Planning

2013: BBC 100 Women: 100 Women: Rebecca Gomperts and the abortion ship

2015: Foreign Policy list global thinkers

2015: Els Borst Oeuvreprijs by the Association of Dutch Women Doctors (VNVA)

2020: Time's 100 list of most influential people of the world

2022: MS magazine top feminists

2022: Aletta Jacobs prize

2022: Glamour women of the year

2022: Bloomberg 50: The people and ideas that defined global business in 2022

2022: The Financial Times 25 most influential women

2023: Lovie Special Activist of the Year Award

2024: Princeton School of Public and International Affairs Dean's Leadership lecture by Rebecca Gomperts: The State of Women's Healthcare

2024: Financial Times readers 25 women of 2024

2025: Washington Post Next 50 - 50 people shaping our society in 2025

2025: STAT's 2025 STATUS List features 50 influential people shaping the future of health and life sciences across biotech, medicine, health care, policy, and health tech.

Documentary Vessel, an award winning documentary about Women on Waves, premiered in 2014 at the Southwest Film Festival. This documentary depicts the creation of a network of reproductive health activists led by Gomperts.

Personal life Gomperts has two children and lives in Amsterdam.