A band of women’s groups have joined together to send abortion pills to Northern Ireland, where abortion remains illegal unless the mother’s health is at risk.
Women on Waves, Women on Web and ROSA Northern Ireland joined forces to send abortion pills to the women in Northern Ireland. Women on Waves asserts its mission is to “prevent unwanted pregnancy,” while its sister organization “Women on Web” delivers abortion pills through the mail. ROSA Northern Ireland describes itself as a “Socialist Feminist Movement” that seeks to end reproductive oppression.
Tomorrow, abortion robots will deliver abortion pills to women in Belfast. Together with @abortionpil and @RosaWomen in Northern Ireland, we’d like to call attention to the restrictive abortion laws and the prosecution of women in the country. #AbortionRobot #Bus4Choice pic.twitter.com/yOeqcKSEwI
— Women on Waves (@WomenOnWaves_) May 30, 2018
“The abortion robot will mark the different legal reality for Northern Irish women, who still have to rely on to rely on new technology, like telemedicine, drones and robots that use international legal loopholes to protect their rights,” Women on Waves wrote in a press release. The group considers its work vital to the well-being of women in Northern Ireland, despite the fact that people who violate the law can face up to 14 years behind bars.
The first batch of pills, delivered via robot, are set to arrive in Northern Ireland Thursday. The robots will be operated from the Netherlands, Gizmodo reports.
Following Ireland’s Saturday vote to legalize abortion by repealing the Eighth Amendment, abortion advocates are also calling for Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May to act as Northern Ireland’s executive to legalize abortion. Northern Ireland operates under a different governing body than Ireland, and following a power-sharing debacle that left the government without an executive in January 2017, British officials have assumed authority to make major decisions for the region while its governing body remains uncertain. May has indicated she will not make a decision where the Northern Ireland government should.
Northern Ireland’s elected assembly can choose to align with Britain’s abortion laws, which permit women to abort their unborn children until 24 weeks in pregnancy. The assembly voted against doing so in February 2016, and has not been able to vote again following the government’s collapse in 2017, Reuters reports. (RELATED: Here’s How American Pro-Lifers Responded To Ireland’s ‘Yes’ To Abortion)
Women on Waves also helped send abortion pills to Northern Ireland by drone in 2016.
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