A Dutch floating abortion clinic is on its way to Portugal despite an attempt by the Dutch government to restrict its activities and after visits to Ireland and Poland stoked controversy.

In Portugal abortion is only possible when the mother's life is in danger and in few other specific cases, said Women on Waves, which leases ships to carry its clinic on campaigns.

The clinic, which offers the abortion pill in international waters to women in countries where they are illegal or more restricted than the Netherlands, has a permit to provide the pill to women with unwanted pregnancies of up to six-and-a-half weeks.

But the centre-right government has restricted the foundation by refusing to grant a permit to provide first trimester abortions, unless the clinic remains within a 25-kilometre radius of the Dutch capital in order to be able to consult with a nearby hospital.

The group has appealed the decision. A court last week rejected its application to suspend temporarily the government order.

Women on Waves sailed to Ireland in 2001 and Poland in 2003 where its ship was pelted with eggs and tomatoes by protesters. Both countries have an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic population and some of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the world.

"I expect there to be a certain degree of protest because the Catholic Church in Portugal is very active in this field, said Gunilla Kleiverda, a gynaecologist with the group.

Women on Waves says a woman dies every five minutes somewhere in the world because of an illegal or unsafe abortion, and that its doctors provide counselling and abortions in international waters where Dutch ships operate under Dutch law.