Woman urges better warnings after severe pain from abortion pills

DR reported that Sanja Loncarevic experienced what she described as a ten-hour ordeal of severe pain after taking abortion medication at home. She says women should receive clearer information about how intense a medical abortion can feel.

Loncarevic had been told the pain could resemble strong menstrual cramps. She was therefore not especially concerned when she was sent home with medication for a medical abortion.

But when the cramps began, she said they felt completely different and intensified over time. She described the pain in an opinion piece in Politiken as “a ten-hour ordeal of pain”.

“I had a great deal of trust that if women are sent home on their own, it cannot be that severe,” Loncarevic, a sociologist, told P1 Morgen.

She said the cramps felt like nothing she had experienced before, and not at all like strong menstrual pain. The pain caused nausea and vomiting, meaning that the painkillers she took did not have time to work.

“As the hours went by, I ended up without any pain relief at all. It was quite an intense experience,” she said.

Her mother tried several times to get help through 1813. During the third call, a doctor prescribed pain relief in suppository form, which Loncarevic said proved decisive.

Other women reported similar experiences

Medical abortions in Denmark can generally be carried out at home up to the ninth week of pregnancy. Women are commonly sent home with the medication and may receive mild painkillers from the clinic. Otherwise, they can buy paracetamol and ibuprofen over the counter.

For some women, however, the pain is much more intense and resembles labour pains rather than menstrual cramps. Loncarevic said other side effects can include vomiting, diarrhoea, nausea, fever, dizziness and heavy bleeding.

After her own experience, Loncarevic wrote her sociology thesis about medical abortion and how a group of women experienced the associated pain.

“It was incredibly easy to find women who had experienced something similar,” she said.

Specialist open to updating guidance

Ditte Trolle, a specialist in gynaecology at Aalborg University Hospital’s Sexological Centre, said the pain caused by a medical abortion varies greatly between women.

She has written about medical abortion in the patient handbook used by doctors. It says that when the uterus begins to contract, patients may experience considerable pain that feels like strong menstrual cramps.

Trolle said that description applies to most women, while some feel very little pain and others experience severe pain. She added that Loncarevic’s experience did not represent dignified treatment and that women should be told in advance that the process can become that intense.

There are no fixed guidelines on which medication hospitals should provide, Trolle said. She is open to reviewing whether the patient handbook should be updated to make clear that women experiencing particularly severe pain may be given anti-nausea medication or pain relief in suppository form to take home.