A Turin woman has become the
first Italian fatality possibly linked to the emergency
contraceptive mifepristone, the so-called 'abortion pill'.
The woman, 37, died at Turin's Martini Hospital after an
abortion brought on by the pill, known in Italy by its former
name, RU486.
An autopsy has been ordered.
The hospital linked the death to a reaction to the pill
but Italy's top expert on abortions, Turin gynecologist Silvio
Viale, said the death was probably caused by sedatives which
have been known to trigger cardiac arrest.
Viale claimed there was only one fatality due to RU486, in
France in 1991, but in that case too it was caused by
complications "rather than the drug itself".
"I feel obliged to warn against any instrumental
exploitation of this death," said Viale, head of Italy's largest
abortion ward at Turin's Sant'Anna hospital.
Since its introduction in several countries more than 25
years ago there have been a handful of deaths allegedly linked
to the pill, including eight cases of "lethal intolerance" in
the United States.
Mifepristone has long had a symbolic significance
transcending its medical use.
When it was approved by the US Food and Drug
Administration in 2000, advocacy groups insisted that it would
change the nature of abortions, taking them out of clinics,
where women might face harassment by abortion opponents, and
into the privacy of a doctor's office.
Abortion opponents said it was dangerous and would lead to
suffering and deaths.
Neither turned out to be right as almost 90% of abortions
continued to be carried out in clinics while the drug was judged
"safe and effective" by US medical authorities.
In Italy, where many doctors and pharmacists are Catholic
conscientious objectors to abortion, women have often found it
hard to get mifepristone even on a prescription.
The pill was first administered in Italy on April 7, 2010,
at a hospital in the southern city of Bari, as a group of
pro-life activists protested outside.
From 2006 to 2009 Italian hospitals ran some 200 tests
using the RU486 pill, importing it from France.
The April 2010 case was the first time that the so-called
abortion pill had been purchased directly from its Italian
distributors.
According to Italian law the RU486 pill - not to be
confused with the morning-after pill that has been in use in
Italy since 2000 - can be taken by women up until the 49th day
of pregnancy under medical supervision in hospital, offering an
alternative to surgical abortion.
During the three-year experimental phase the pill was
administered to day-hospital patients.
RU486 was first introduced in France in 1988 and is now
used in most European countries including Greece, Spain, Belgium
and the United Kingdom.
Its introduction in Italy met with stiff opposition from
the Catholic Church as well as pro-life politicians and
activists.
Responding to ethical and health concerns, the health
ministry set up a standing committee to monitor the use of the
pill in Italian hospitals.
Ministry officials expressed concern that regional
governments could issue different protocols for the drug,
creating confusion and raising the likelihood of improper use.
Italy's National Pharmaceutical Agency AIFA first approved
the RU486 pill in July 2009 but its use was put on hold during a
Senate inquiry into concerns over its safety and compatibility
with Italian abortion laws.
The inquiry gave way to a bitter debate inside and outside
parliament, with Catholic Church officials threatening
excommunication for anyone who took or prescribed the new drug.
The rate of abortions in Italy has been falling over
recent years and is one of the lowest in the West.
According to the latest figures, for 2012, the number of
abortions performed in Italy has been decreasing while the
number of doctors who are conscientious objectors to the
procedure has been on the rise.
In 2012, 105,968 abortions were performed, a decrease of
4.9% compared to the previous year, the report said.
The report also found that the number of abortions dropped
dramatically " by almost 55% - compared with the figures for 30
years ago, while the percentage of doctors refusing to do them
rose by 17.3% between 1982 and 2012.
The report said that the number of abortions peaked at
234,801 in 1982.
An estimated 15,000 illegal abortions are also carried
out each year.
Pro-choice activists have complained that a growing
number of pro-life medical practitioners are making it tougher
for women to obtain abortions.
Under Italian law, doctors can refuse to perform an
abortion if it runs counter to their principles.
Recent health ministry figures suggest that 70% of all
Italian gynaecologists are now 'conscientious objectors'
compared to 58.7% in 2003 while 50.4% of anaesthetists are
opposed to abortion, compared to 45.7% in 2003.
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