The world’s first ‘Abortion Drone’ is set to take flight into Poland, delivering abortion pills from Frankfurt to Slubice to offer Polish women “a different reality”.
The logic is quite simple: If Amazon and DHL are investigating drone delivery of products, why not anyone else?
So Women on Waves – in collaboration with Cocia Basia, Feminteka Foundation and Porozumienie kobiet 8 marc – have organised this small drone to fly across the German/Poland border and deliver WHO-approved pills into a country with far more restrictive abortion laws than the majority of Europe.
According to Women on Waves, no authorisation is needed to fly the drone into Poland because it weighs less than 5kg, is not used for any commercial purposes, “will stay within the sight of the person flying it and does not fly in controlled airspace”.
Rebecca Gomperts, founder and director of the Dutch-based organisation, said she is making “every effort” to allow women to get safe access to abortion and medical abortion pills. This flight takes place on Saturday, with the final arrival location yet to be announced.
Abortion drone not just for Poland
This has obviously taken a long time to plan, with Gomperts speaking about the project as far back as March.
“We are exploring the possibility of delivering the medicines with drones over borders,” she told the The New York Times at the time.
“Initially it will be a very small drone, not a large one like the ones DHL, Amazon and Google are using. We aren’t there yet,” she explained.
The decision to choose Poland as a first location was due to its laws, according to Gomperts, but the Telegraph suggests that any success could see a similar project heading to Ireland.
“We’re very interested in the new developments around drones,” she said. “In a sense it’s a campaign to call attention to the reality for women in Poland. But there’s a future for it as a delivery model. We might do it in Ireland.”
Drone image, via Shutterstock
