"AbortOmat" in Warsaw offers a new way to challenge the restrictions in force in the country and provide women with fast and anonymous access to abortion pills, UNN reports, citing The Guardian.
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"AbortOmat" is called "the world's first vending machine for abortion pills." Polish activists introduced this new method of distribution as part of their efforts to circumvent the country's near-total abortion ban.
Painted pink and decorated with curtains featuring a "zebra" pattern, the Warsaw "AbortOmat," with its 22 compartments, allows women to quickly and anonymously obtain pills using a six-digit code. The service is designed for those who cannot or do not want to wait several days for delivery by mail (for example, in cases of an incomplete miscarriage or health complications), or who are afraid to receive such medication at home.
"Why not?" says Kinga Jelinska, director of the Women Help Women foundation and co-founder of the Abortion Dream Team initiative; these two organizations launched the project this week.
"You can order underwear, cosmetics, mascara, or anything else and receive it practically the same day or the next day," she says. "Why not do the same with abortion pills, since in some cases the situation may be more urgent?"
The initiative emerged six years after people across Poland took to the streets to protest the tightening of what was already Europe's strictest abortion legislation; those events became the largest demonstrations in the country since the fall of the communist regime. The 2023 protests are believed to have helped bring Donald Tusk to power, as he had promised to review the legislation during the first 100 days of his government.
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Since then, according to Jelinska, there has been political stagnation. She recalled Prime Minister Tusk's words from last year: he said that there was "simply no majority" in parliament to change the laws and allow abortion up to the 12th week. Instead, Tusk hinted that his government would act differently, telling journalists that the authorities would not prosecute those who help arrange abortions. Although possessing or taking abortion pills is not illegal in Poland, providing these medications or helping someone obtain them is considered a crime punishable by up to three years in prison.
According to Jelinska, this locker is an unconventional way to circumvent such restrictions. "It is a kind of 'hack' of the law," she says. "The law prohibits transferring medications directly to another person. But here, a vending machine appears between people, making the question of legality much less clear-cut."
The locker is located in an abortion support center opened in March 2025 by the Abortion Dream Team. The facility, the first of its kind in democratic Poland, offers a safe space where people can receive advice on abortion options or support while taking the medication.
The center's location—symbolically, opposite the Polish parliament building—has allowed activists to draw attention to the ongoing need for access to abortion services in Poland while also providing assistance to a wide range of people, Jelinska said. "The result exceeded our expectations."
The locker is an unconventional way to circumvent such restrictions, Jelinska says. "It is a kind of 'hack' of the law," she explains. "The law prohibits transferring medications directly to another person. But here, a vending machine appears between people, making the question of legality much less clear-cut."
The locker is located in an abortion support center opened in March 2025 by the Abortion Dream Team. The facility, the first of its kind in democratic Poland, offers a safe space where people can receive advice on abortion options or support while taking the medication.
The center’s location — symbolically, opposite the Polish parliament building — allowed activists to draw attention to the continuing need for access to abortion services in Poland, while also providing assistance to a wide range of people, Yelinska said. "The result exceeded our expectations."
At the same time, it also exposed the fact that few people among those in power were willing to stand up for them, she added. "What really surprised us — and this is indicative of the political situation — is that protests are taking place in front of the center: three, and sometimes even four, times a week."
Although fewer than a dozen people usually gather, protesters regularly use sirens and vuvuzelas to make their position known. This has raised activists’ fears that, because of the noise, neighbors may eventually demand that the center be relocated. "Neither the city authorities nor the police responded to this. And that disappointed us greatly," Yelinska said.
According to Yelinska, this is a vivid example of how such organizations increasingly feel abandoned by politicians — despite the fact that about 50,000 people in Poland sought help last year from the broader network of organizations defending the right to abortion. "I think access to abortion in Poland will be decided not by politicians, but by women and communities themselves," she said. "We cannot trust politicians to control our bodies."