Canadian drugs watchdog reports serious reactions to abortion pills

Scores of women have reported suffering complications following chemical abortions, the drugs regulator in Canada has revealed.

The Canada Vigilance Program received 43 ‘adverse reaction reports’ between 2017 and 2021 for the abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol – the same drugs used for unsupervised DIY abortions in the UK.

Mifepristone is designed to kill the developing baby, whereas misoprostol induces a miscarriage to expel the unborn child from the womb.

Life threatening

Almost a quarter of the voluntary reports submitted by healthcare professionals or laypersons involved hospitalisations.

Serious reactions filed with the national watchdog included sepsis, haemorrhaging, thrombosis and loss of consciousness.

sepsis, haemorrhaging, thrombosis and loss of consciousness

In three reported instances, the complications arising were deemed to be sufficiently serious as to be life threatening.

While acknowledging that adverse reactions may be under-reported, Canada Vigilance warned the data was incomplete and there was “not certainty that these health products caused the reported reactions”.

England & Wales

A recent investigation by a former Director of abortion giant Marie Stopes International revealed that complications due to abortion pills led to one in 17 women in England who took them needing hospital treatment.

Kevin Duffy’s investigation, based on data obtained through FOI requests on abortions in the home since 2020, calculated that 5.9 per cent of women using either or both abortion pills at home attended hospital for treatment.

Duffy found that more than half of this cohort required surgical intervention and over a third needed medical help due to haemorrhaging.

The Welsh Government has now made an ‘emergency’ scheme allowing unsupervised chemical-induced abortions at home permanent. A similar system is due to end in England in August.