Women seeking hospital care due to complications after medical abortion

A number of women who had abortions are presenting to hospital with complications such as bleeding, infection, continuing pregnancy and retained products of conception, a conference was told.

Under the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act which came into effect last January, women can have a medical abortion, which involves taking medication after consulting a GP or maternity hospital up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.

The first study of its kind into the standard of care for a number of women seeking hospital treatment after having a medical abortion found none had undergone an assessment for venous thromboembolism, a blood clot. The study, by St Luke’s Hospital, Kilkenny, showed two were offered contraceptive advice.

Psychological support was only offered in three cases.

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All the patients were advised to follow up with their GPs, the conference of the Irish Congress of Obstetricians, Gynaecology and Perinatal Medicine was told.

Women who have made a conscious decision to seek termination of pregnancy should be provided with an acceptable level of care, according to the researchers who examined cases between January and September this year.

A separate study showed the new abortion law has led to an increase in terminations by women whose unborn child has been diagnosed with a fatal foetal abnormality. The study looked at a sample of mothers with the diagnosis in the first nine months of 2018 with the same length of time in 2019.

In 2018, between January and September there were 67 significant foetal abnormalities diagnosed and six of these were fatal foetal abnormalities.

“There were three terminations of pregnancy for fatal foetal abnormalities, indicating a 50pc rate,” the study by an obstetrician and nurses in Galway University Hospital showed. So far in 2019 there were seven terminations after the same diagnosis – the definite number of cases was still under calculation.

The study concluded the change of the law in 2019 with the implementation of the Act had led to an increase in the number of women affected by this diagnosis who terminate their pregnancies. “This will have service implications for units providing the service,” the conference was told.

No official figures on the number of terminations which have taken place under the new legislation have yet been made public.

Health Minister Simon Harris will receive a report on the matter next month which will be published.

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