Seizures of illegal abortion pills lead to fears

More than 1,000 abortion pills were seized by Irish health authorities last year — twice the number confiscated in each of the previous two years.

The figures have prompted renewed calls for wider legal abortion services in Ireland.

The alliance Doctors for Choice said women may be fearful of telling their GP that they had, or were in the process of, taking such medication to induce an illegal abortion, given that it is a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison.