Let’s take it easy because the issue here is very delicate and, yes, it lies exactly on the very thin border between freedom of thought and action and what is conventionally considered ethical. Because an automatic dispenser of abortion pills is definitely strong stuff for many but, above all, it must tell us a lot about how much work still needs to be done so that, rather, women who want/need to have an abortion do not have to find themselves faced with a path full of obstacles. And they can do it without fear of any judgement.
It happens in Poland, in Warsaw, where some activists inaugurated what they provocatively defined as “abortionmat“, that is, a distributor – precisely – of abortion pills, allowing women to access them anonymously and immediately. A very impactful initiative, if we consider the context: it was born in a nation where the legislation on voluntary termination of pregnancy is among the most restrictive in Europe.
The IVG in Poland
To date, Poland remains one of the European Union countries with the most restrictive legislation on voluntary termination of pregnancy.
From 27 January 2021, after the entry into force of the ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal of 22 October 2020, termination of pregnancy due to serious malformations or fetal pathologies is no longer permitted. The law continues to allow it essentially in two cases: when the pregnancy puts the woman’s life or health at risk and when it results from a crime, for example rape or incest.
Furthermore, although the possibility of abortion is formally foreseen in case of danger to one’s health, in practice doctors and hospitals have often reported a strong deterrent effect due to the risk of criminal consequences. The Polish penal code in fact punishes those who practice or help to perform an abortion outside of the cases permitted by law.
In recent years the government has tried to clarify that the concept of “health” also includes mental health and that hospitals can be sanctioned if they refuse legally permitted termination of pregnancy. But the underlying law has not yet been liberalized. Proposals to amend both the 1993 law and the criminal laws on abortion assistance are still being discussed in Parliament. A session of the special commission scheduled for September 2026 was postponed due to the lack of the position of the Ministry of Health.
The distributor
The new small pink dispenser is made up of 22 compartments containing sachets with the drugs needed to perform a medical abortion.
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We are constantly looking for solutions to make access to abortion easier: more accessible, more welcoming and more people-centered, said Kinga Jelinska, director of the Women Help Women foundation (registered in Canada) and co-founder of the Abortion Dream Team.
For now, it is possible to find abortimat in an abortion assistance center created by activists right in front of the Polish Parliament with the aim of offering women access to resources and a space where they can ask for support or carry out a medical abortion.
