'Abortion drone' delivers pregnancy-terminating pills to women in Poland

In what might be the most political use of personal drones yet, Dutch activists successfully flewaquadcopter carrying abortion-inducingpills into Poland this weekend without the need for any sort of government authorization, thanks to their unique method of delivery.

Abortion is not currently legal in Poland unless a woman's life is in danger orevidence ofrape, incest orsevere fetal abnormalities is provided.

Because of this, more than50,000 underground abortions are performed illegally each year in the traditionally Catholic country,often by doctors whouse outdated tools and charge thousands of dollars,according to The Guardian.

The "abortion drone" was createdboth as a way toraise awareness about Poland'slaws, and to provide women living there with a safe and affordable alternative when it comes to endingunwanted pregnancies.

"The medicines used for a medical abortion, mifepristone and misoprostol, have been on the list of essential medicines of the World Health Organization since 2005 and are available in Germany and almost all other European countries," reads a press release issued last week by Women on Waves, the non-profit group of doctors and activistsbehind the project.

"However this medicine is still not registered in Poland," the release continues."Drones can also be used to provide safe abortion pills by [loading] the package in Germany, where abortion is legal and delivering it into a border town in Poland where abortion is severely restricted since 1993."

The Dutch group explainedthat, because its consumer drone weighs less than 5 kg and is not used for commercial purposes,neither Polish or German laws could prohibit it fromflying between borders.

So, on Saturday, a small UAV was loaded up with medication prescribed by a Dutch gynecologist and flown from the German town of Frankfurt an der Oder toSlubice, Poland.

The entire trip (as seen in the video below)lasted only 60 seconds, but the drone was able to make it across a river anddeliver its load to activists waiting in Poland despite threats of beingshot down by pro-life activists.

The AFP reports thatabout a dozen anti-abortion protesters hadgathered at the Polish site to giveout plastic fetuses, but that neither they nor several plainclothespolice officers in attendance interfered with the landing.

Back on the German side of the river, however, police confiscated the group's drone controllers and iPads.

This didn't seem to deter Women on Waves, which called the mission"asuccess"in an update on its websitelater that day.

"After the drones left, the German police tried to intervene but the drone pilots were able to safely land the drones at the Polish side," the post reads. "Two Polish women swallowed the abortion pills that were delivered to them by the drones. The German police confiscated the drone controllers and personal iPads. They pressed criminal charges but it is totally unclear on what grounds. The medicines were provided on prescription by a doctor and both Poland and Germany are part of Schengen."

Jula Gaweda of the Polishfeminist organization Feminoteka, which collaborated on the project with Women on Waves, clarified to the AFP that the two women who swallowed the medication in Polandwere not pregnant and that the gesture was symbolic.

"The operation went well," Gaweda told a reporter, sayingthat "just a few kilometres (between the take-off and the landing site) can be a gulf in terms of respect for women's rights, reproductive rights, which are human rights."