The "abortion drone"

[Nietzsche]

To me, the significance was German people doing something illegal in Poland, using high tech methods. I pointed this out in my first post. Shipping out of season grapes would have been the same issue.

Apparently the German police did not agree with them either. They confiscated the equipment in Germany.
As far as I can see, the purpose of the "abortion drones" was to avoid the Polish authorities. That does not seem like a good thing to me.

Tom

Here's the thing; it isn't strictly illegal. Nor is it strictly legal, either. Both the people and the governments(in both Poland & Germany) are exploiting legal loop-holes, the civilians bringing the meds to Poland and the government trying to restrict it. The fact of the matter is that the law isn't very clear on this, due to the intricacies of EU(EU here being shorthand for the various agreements between European states that may not strictly be actual EU) resolutions & such.

 

[columbus]

Here's the thing; it isn't strictly illegal. Nor is it strictly legal, either. Both the people and the governments(in both Poland & Germany) are exploiting legal loop-holes, the civilians bringing the meds to Poland and the government trying to restrict it.

I referred to this as murky.
The thing is, the article says that abortion is illegal in Poland. That would imply that dispensing those pills would be illegal. Having gotten away with it in the past doesn't change that.
But in the very next sentenced it says that abortion is available in cases of rape, incest, health, or abnormalities. So abortion is not actually illegal, what is illegal is elective abortion. Since I don't see that as a fundamental human right, I don't assume that citizens skirting the law are heroes.
That seems to be where the murky part comes in.
Tom

 

[Marisa]

I referred to this as murky.
The thing is, the article says that abortion is illegal in Poland. That would imply that dispensing those pills would be illegal. Having gotten away with it in the past doesn't change that.
But in the very next sentenced it says that abortion is available in cases of rape, incest, health, or abnormalities. So abortion is not actually illegal, what is illegal is elective abortion. Since I don't see that as a fundamental human right, I don't assume that citizens skirting the law are heroes.
That seems to be where the murky part comes in.
Tom

I think we're all aware of how your opinion on elective abortion informs you're reading of the article. You also called this smuggling, which it clearly is not. When Rush Limbaugh smuggled Viagra into the US from the DR, it was smuggling not because Viagra is illegal to prescribe, but because efforts to circumnavigate US customs were engaged in. That isn't happening here, there are no customs laws to avoid. Once again, it's not illegal to possess these drugs. Because of that, one might assume Poland doesn't much care if it's women obtain abortions, they just don't want to provide them in Poland. I'd imagine that Poland knew something like this could happen and chose to join the EU anyway, because of the greater good to Polish people to be gained as opposed to making sure Polish women understand that certain organs are property of the state.

So now, both our opinions have influenced our reading and understanding of the dynamics at play.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I referred to this as murky.
The thing is, the article says that abortion is illegal in Poland. That would imply that dispensing those pills would be illegal. Having gotten away with it in the past doesn't change that.
But in the very next sentenced it says that abortion is available in cases of rape, incest, health, or abnormalities. So abortion is not actually illegal, what is illegal is elective abortion. Since I don't see that as a fundamental human right, I don't assume that citizens skirting the law are heroes.
That seems to be where the murky part comes in.
Tom

From what I've read, while elective abortion is generally illegal in Poland, there's actually no penalty for procuring an abortion. In that regard, the Polish law is a lot like the US Flag Code.

But at the same time, the Schengen Agreement is also Polish law, and it explicitly makes it legal Polish people - which would include pregnant Polish women - to take medication prescribed in Germany - which would include abortifacients.

One of these laws takes precedence. I'm not a Polish lawyer, but I haven't seen any reports that Women on Waves has had any issues with Polish authorities (despite Polish authorities presumably being able to read Women on Waves' press releases like anyone else), which suggests to me that the authorities probably consider the activity legal. It seems that you've decided that the Schengen Agreement is secondary to the other Polish law here, but I can't see why.

Are YOU a Polish lawyer?