A group of Dutch activists and doctors are planning an "abortion drone" mission to fly abortion pills to a Polish town.
The group, Women on Waves, is slated to fly a drone carrying abortion drugs that are approved by the World Health Organization across the German-Polish border Saturday.
According to The Guardian, Rebecca Gomperts, the founder of Women on Waves, said:
“We want to create awareness about women’s right to a safe abortion. 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.
In Poland, even 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. Rich people can go to Germany or the UK to have abortions, but it’s the women who don’t have the means or access to information who are suffering.
Poland's abortion laws are strict compared to the rest of the European Union. Women can only get an abortion if they can prove rape or incest, if the life of the mother is endangered, or if the fetus has physical ailments or malformed.
Women on Waves say that the drone will help provide a safer way to terminate a pregnancy, instead of hiring an unlicensed doctor perform an abortion using outdated and dangerous equipment.
They claim that the flying the drone is legal since it is within controlled airspace, under a certain weight limit, and a non-commercial flight.
"We want to create awareness among Polish women that there is medicine that is safe to use. So that whenever they look for abortions they will make sure it is safe," says Gomperts.
According to Gomperts, pro-life activists have threatened to shoot down the drone during the flight.
“But it’s problematic because it’s a very aggressive strategy that’s intended to make people afraid. And it’s nonsense because it will not stop women from needing an abortion.”
H/T Reddit and The Guardian