Drone Delivers Abortion Pills to Northern Ireland in Challenge to Abortion Laws

Activists flew a drone into Northern Ireland as a way to deliver abortion pills, as a stunt to dramatize the difficulties faced by women seeking to have an abortion in the UK province.

The drone was launched from Omeath in the Republic of Ireland, carrying mifepristone and misoprostol pills. It landed at Narrow Waters Castle in the vicinity of Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland. Two women greeted the drone and took the pills that it had delivered. Northern Irish police were present as the drone landing took place, but they did not make a move to prevent the women from ingesting the abortion pills.

The event was organized by a coalition of pro-choice groups: Alliance For Choice, Labour Alternative, Rosa, and Women on Waves.

One of the women who took the pills was Belfast native Courtney Robinson, a member of Labour Alternative. Robinson made a statement to the press:

"We are here to say we are going to defy the law in helping women obtain these pills and we are going to work to make the law unworkable and stand in solidarity with all women who want to have an abortion and have the right to do so in Northern Ireland," said Robinson.

Robinson added that Labour Alternative would continue such activist activities for as long as the Dáil (the Irish parliament) refused to entertain their demands for improved reproductive rights.

The UK's Abortion Act 1967 does not apply to the province of Northern Ireland, where it is against the law to do an abortion except for serious health reasons, such as to preserve the life of the mother. Those who use drugs to induce an abortion may face dire consequences. The maximum penalty for such behavior is life imprisonment, under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act.

In April of 2016, a 21-year-old woman from Northern Ireland was given a three-month suspended sentence for the offense of inducing an abortion with pills that she had purchased online.