Mission abortion: Morning-after pills delivered to Poland by drone

Dutch women rights group, “Women on Waves”, is deploying a drone campaign carrying abortion (day after) pills to Poland in protest against Poland’s pregnancy termination restrictions. The group, banned from mailing the pills through the post, has decided to overcome the country’s constraints through drone deliveries.

Poland only allows women to terminate pregnancies in extreme cases, such as when a woman’s health is under threat, in cases of incest or when the fetus is “seriously damaged”. It is estimated that at least 50,000 illegal abortions take place on the backstreets of Poland each year. Rebecca Gomperts, that founded Women on Waves, told the Telegraph that women in Poland “try all kinds of awful stuff – some try to commit suicide. Other women put knitting needles in their vagina, or do lots of dangerous things to stop it. If a woman doesn’t want a pregnancy she will do whatever she can to end it. The consequences are dangerous.”

The pills contain mifepristone and misoprostol and can be taken up to nine weeks of pregnancy. Though the pills are not illegal in Poland, they are illegal when taken to induce a miscarriage.

If the group is successful in this delivery on Saturday they will use the same method to deliver pills to Irish women who are even more restricted. The Irish penalty for ordering the pills online is 14 days imprisonment.

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