Women’s rights activists in Poland opened a delivery locker supplying abortion pills in late September opposite the Polish parliament.
Known as the “Abortomat,” the pink 22-compartment locker sits in a small room behind a tasseled portiere at Abotak, Poland’s first abortion center. The location sends a clear message to politicians like Donald Tusk, who pledged before the 2023 parliamentary election to introduce abortion on demand up to the 12th week of pregnancy.
His coalition has since been unable to agree on a common position, leaving Poland and Malta as the only two European Union member states that do not allow abortion on request.
Culture of Vending Machines and Parcel Lockers
Parcel lockers have sprung up like mushrooms after rain across Poland in recent years, becoming a fixture of daily life even in the smallest villages. Justyna Wydrzynska, an activist from the nonprofit organization Abortion Dream Team, explained the cultural fit during a tour of the center with dw.com.
“When you walk around Poland, vending machines are everywhere. This is our culture. People in the US have Amazon, we have vending machines for everything,” Wydrzynska said.
To use the system, a woman completes a medical questionnaire checked by a doctor and receives a PIN code from the organization Women Help Women. Inside each compartment is a package containing mifepristone and misoprostol, drugs usually taken up to the 14th week of pregnancy.
Because mifepristone is not registered in Poland, it must be ordered from abroad where it is legal, with assistance from Abotak and the Abortion Dream Team.
Activists Face Prison Risks for Helping Women Access Abortions
While women in Poland who undergo abortions are not criminalized, anyone who helps them terminate a pregnancy risks up to three years in prison. Wydrzynska became the first activist convicted in Poland of helping a woman obtain an abortion by sending pills in 2023, though that conviction was later overturned and the court ordered a retrial.
Wydrzynska believes the “Abortomat” avoids breaking the law because a machine, rather than a person, delivers the pills. Dr. Sabrina Mana-Walasek, a reproductive rights lawyer representing Wydrzynska, described the legal environment for abortion pills as “complicated.”
“If a woman orders pills for herself and pays for them herself, it’s not a crime,” Mana-Walasek said, noting that mifepristone is registered in the European Union, allowing Polish women as EU citizens to order and take it.
Opposing that view, the ultra-Catholic legal group Ordo Iuris has notified the prosecutor’s office that the activists are committing a crime. Katarzyna Gesiak, director of the Ordo Iuris Center for Medical Law and Bioethics, argued that people ultimately operate the device by sending PIN codes, procuring pills, and restocking compartments.
Outside the center, anti-abortion activists regularly demonstrate using horns and loudspeakers. One demonstrator holding an image of the Virgin Mary told dw.com that abortion “is the work of Satan.”
Activists Struggle with Parliamentary Delays and Low Hospital Abortion Rates
Natalia Broniarczyk, another Abortion Dream Team activist, said that their network helps about 130 women daily in Poland, with roughly 125 using pills costing about €75 ($83) and the remainder traveling abroad. In contrast, just 851 abortions were performed in Polish hospitals last year.
Broniarczyk expressed frustration with the inactivity of liberals in Tusk’s coalition, noting that separate bills failed to obtain parliamentary approval in 2024. In October, two bills were resubmitted to the Sejm and narrowly approved.
One bill reinstates severe irreversible fetal defects as a justification for a legal termination, overturning a 2020 ruling by the Constitutional Court under the previous right-wing Law and Justice (PiS)-led government that sparked massive street protests. Lawmakers also approved a bill partially decriminalizing anyone who helps a woman terminate her pregnancy.
A recent poll conducted by SW Research for Onet.pl showed that almost 61% of respondents want right-wing President Karol Nawrocki, who is backed by PiS and opposes abortion, to sign the fetal defect bill into law. Both Wydrzynska and Broniarczyk expect Nawrocki to use his power of veto to block the measures.
