On Saturday, 22 May 1971 the group met at [[Dublin Connolly railway station|Connolly Station]] in [[Dublin]] and then traveled to Belfast in [[Northern Ireland]] to purchase contraceptives, which were banned in the Republic of Ireland.<ref name=":0" /> The IWLM members were divided about who should go to Belfast. Some members thought that single women should not go because "buying contraception implied they were having sex before marriage."<ref>{{Cite book|title = British and Irish Women Writers and the Women's Movement: Six Literary Voices of Their Time|last = Franks|first = Jill|publisher = McFarland & Company, Inc.|year = 2013|isbn = 9780786474080|location = Jefferson, North Carolina|pages = 46}}</ref>
Contraception in the Republic of Ireland had been illegal since 1935 under the 1935 Criminal Law (Amendment) Act,<ref>{{Cite journal|url = http://www.wsm.ie/story/3390|title = The Train That Crashed Through the Anti-Condom Law|last = |first = |date = January 2008|journal = Worker's Solidarity|doi = |pmid = |access-date = 21 August 2015|issue = 101}}</ref> and while contraception was legal in Northern Ireland it was restricted, so the women involved could not get [[Combined oral contraceptive pill|the pill]] without a doctor's [[Prescription drug|prescription]] (even though they tried).<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title = 1968: Memories and Legacies of a Global Revolt|last = McCafferty|first = Nell|publisher = |year = |isbn = |location = |pages = 216-218|url = http://www.ghi-dc.org/files/publications/bu_supp/supp006/bus6_213.pdf|chapter = Ireland: Breaking the Shackles|access-date = 21 August 2015}}</ref> The women bought [[condoms]] and [[Spermicide|spermicide jelly]], and instead of buying the pill they bought hundreds of packets of aspirin, as they realized that the majority of the [[Customs|custom]] officials would not know what the pill would looked like.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url = http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/laying-the-tracks-to-liberation-the-original-contraceptive-train-1.1979907|title = Laying the Tracks to Liberation: The Original Contraceptive Train|last = Minihan|first = Mary|date = 28 October 2014|work = The Irish Times|access-date = 21 August 2015|via = }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url = http://educationforchoice.blogspot.co.at/2013/01/have-you-heard-about-condom-train.html|title = Have You Heard About the Condom Train?|date = 29 January 2013|accessdate = 21 August 2015|website = Education For Choice|publisher = |last = |first = }}</ref> They were followed by television crews from America, Japan and Ireland.<ref name=":3" />
On arrival back at Connolly Station, there were protesters demonstrating, waiting for them to arrive.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url = http://www.rte.ie/archives/exhibitions/1666-women-and-society/370226-contraceptive-train/|title = Women's Lib and Contraceptive Train 1971|date = |accessdate = |website = RTE Archives|publisher = Raidió Teilifís Éireann|last = |first = }}</ref> At customs, the women involved loudly declared what they had purchased and refused to hand over the contraceptives.<ref name=":3" /> Some women publicly swallowed the aspirin in defiance of the law, pretending that they were the pill.<ref name=":1" /> Others waved the contraceptives in the air as the passed through the station.<ref name=":2" />
