A woman who had taken prescribed abortion pills later presented with a life-threatening ruptured ectopic pregnancy in Maternity Hospital Limerick, according to a report published in the Journal of the Irish Medical Organisation.

The authors said the practice of not providing an ultrasound in drug-induced abortion could lead to death where it was not understood that ectopic pregnancy was involved.

In response, Doctors for Life said that that previous warnings on the absence of a scan prior to prescribing abortion pills must now be heeded as a matter of urgency.

The case was written up in the March edition of the IMO’s Journal. The authors said that it provided insights into “a serious and life-threatening event, i.e., maternal collapse due to a ruptured EP [ectopic pregnancy] after a termination of pregnancy”.

They added: “It could have been prevented by an ultrasound for location of the pregnancy. Offering an ultrasound to confirm IUP to patients requesting abortifacients is not routine & this practice may result in masking signs and symptoms of EP in patients having abortion and result in mortality due to misdiagnosis and overlap in symptoms of EP and abortion”.