In Warsaw, the capital of Poland, a vending machine called the “abortomat” that dispenses abortion pills has gone into service. The wall-mounted device set up by the organizations Women Help Women (WHW) and Abortion Dream Team (ADT) consists of 22 tiny lockers and a keypad; it operates not with money but on request. The vending machine, said to be the first of its kind in the world, opened on September 29 at Wiejska 9, across from the Polish Parliament, inside ABOTAK, the country’s first abortion clinic.
WHW, a feminist organization operating in more than 80 countries, introduced the system as “the world’s first parcel locker.” ADT, meanwhile, is a women’s rights group that has faced investigations and prosecutions in Poland for providing safe abortion support.
Poland has one of the strictest abortion regimes in Europe. Under a 1993 law, a pregnancy can be terminated by a doctor only if the woman’s life or health is at risk or if there is justified suspicion that the pregnancy resulted from a crime; for pregnancies resulting from a crime, the limit is 12 weeks. In 2020, the Constitutional Court removed severe illness or disability of the fetus as a ground. A woman who terminates her own pregnancy is not punished; however, under Article 152 of the Penal Code, a person who assists in or encourages an abortion faces up to 3 years in prison.
Why it matters
The vending machine’s significance comes from its operation in the gap left by Poland’s legal framework: while a woman who terminates her pregnancy is not punished, a person who assists can face up to three years in prison, so the device offers an access model that operates precisely along this line. As legal options narrowed further with the 2020 Constitutional Court ruling, such civil society initiatives are turning into a de facto access channel for women in the country. The placement of the device directly across from parliament elevates the step beyond a mere health service and turns it into an overt political message. The involvement in the project of ADT, which has previously faced investigations and prosecutions, leaves open the question of whether the operators will face new prosecutions under Article 152 of the Penal Code. WHW’s network, which spans more than 80 countries, meanwhile raises the question of whether this model will be tried in other countries with similar restrictions.