Gomperts founded the Women on Waves, Women on Web, and Aid Access charities
Translated by Thomas Ansell
The Aletta Jacobs Prize 2022 has been awarded by the University of Groningen to Rebecca Gompers, founder of the Women on Waves, Women on Web, and Aid Access charities. The prize is biannually awarded to a woman that has worked on initiatives and topics related to ‘emancipation’. The prize is named after RUG alum Aletta Jacobs, who was the first woman to complete a medical degree in the Netherlands. As reported by RTV Noord.
Gomperts has worked for more than two decades in the field of abortion rights, working not only to push the issue onto political agendas, but also by providing safe pathways to terminating pregnancies for women that live in countries that repress these rights. Women on Waves, Women on Web, and Aid Access all work to provide safe abortions to women across the world.
“It’s not for nothing that we announced the winner of the prize on ‘safe abortion day’”, says head the prize jury Jaka Stoker, “unfortunately safe abortions aren’t accessible to all, and womens rights are under threat across the world. The jury has awarded Rebecca Gomperts the prize due to her unceasing efforts to secure these rights.”
The prize will be given to Gomperts on March 8, 2022, by the Rector Magnificus Cisca Wijmenga. Gomperts’ name will be added to an excellent list of prior laureates, including Khadija Arib (former speaker of the Tweede Kamer), ex-EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes, human rights lawyer Lilian Gonçalves-Ho Kan You; and former Health Minister and medical researcher Els Borst.
Image: Gomperts in 2017, by Jarek Sawiuk, via Wikimedia. License here.
