Pro-abortion activist group delivers first 'abortion drone' to predominantly Catholic Poland

Chiqui Guyjoco Wednesday, May 18, 2016

A screenshot of the abortion drone's flight to Poland | YouTube/WomenOnWaves

A non-profit group of Dutch activists and doctors, Women on Waves, has successfully dropped drones carrying abortion pills into predominantly Catholic Poland on Saturday, May 14 as the group campaigns for women's "rights to a safe abortion".

The activist group made an official announcement on its website where they described their first abortion drone flight a "success" as two Polish women swallowed the pills they received.

According to the website, the drone was flown from Germany and landed at the opposite side of the river in Slubice, Poland while the German police tried to stop the drone's flight. The police had to contend with confiscating the drone controllers and personal iPads.

"We want to create awareness about women's right to a safe abortion," doctor and founder of Women on Waves informed The Guardian previously. "The drone is another way to use the different laws in different countries in order to draw attention to the social injustice that women who are living in places where abortion is illegal are subject to."

Poland remains just one of the few European countries that bans abortion except for in the most extreme circumstances. Polish law only considers abortion to be legal and necessary in cases of rape or incest, the woman's life is endangered, or when the fetus is irreversibly damaged.

Pro-abortion activists argue that the Polish laws force women to resort to unsafe illegal providers that lead to deaths and morbidities.

"Women who could have an abortion under Polish law are often denied it because Catholic hospitals don't help them, even if their life is in danger," Gompers argued. "It's the women who don't have the means or access to information who are suffering." The doctor also said that those who have money can just easily go to Germany or UK for the abortions.

Women on Waves also plans to send drones to Ireland and Malta and other European countries where abortion is still illegal in efforts to avoid the countries' laws.