This past Saturday, a drone flying from Frankfurt, Germany safely delivered abortion-inducing pills to Słubice, Poland. The drone’s flight marks the first successful effort by Women on Waves and other pro-abortion groups based in Eastern Europe to provide abortion services in this way. Abortion is legal in Germany, but has been harshly restricted in Poland since 1993.
Watch a video of the drone’s flight below:
German police attempted to interfere with the abortion drone’s flight, but were unable to confiscate the controllers and personal iPads of the drone pilots. The police have since pressed criminal charges but it is unclear on which grounds.
The abortion medicine was dispensed based on a doctor’s prescription, and two Polish women swallowed the pills upon their arrival. Mifepristone and misoprostol, the abortion pills, have been categorized as “essential medications” by the World Health Organization since 2005, and although available in Germany and most other European countries, the prescription drugs are still restricted in Poland. Polish law violates WHO’s “right to health” standards, and is overly restrictive given that WHO studies have shown medical abortion is low-risk for women to undergo at home under 9 weeks. However, there is no punishment in Poland for illegal abortion or for actions that cause miscarriage.
Studies have shown that Poland has one of the highest abortion rates in the world, despite their strict anti-abortion restrictions. The flight of the abortion drone is a successful step forward in expanding Polish women’s access to safe abortion.
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Photo screenshot of womenonwaves‘ video
