Abortion Pill (Getty Images Jaykayl)

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Turin 12 April 2014 After taking the Ru486 pill to cause the termination of pregnancy, a 37-year-old woman died at the Martini hospital in Turin. The results of the autopsy - scheduled for Monday - are expected to confirm whether the death was caused by the abortion pill. In the United States, eight women have already died from the drug. In Italy, however, it would be the first case. 

The pharmacological process
The heart of the woman who had decided to voluntarily terminate the pregnancy stopped the other night. On April 4, the 37-year-old mother of a child was given mifepristone, the substance that stops gestation within 48 hours. The other evening, as per protocol, the woman returned to the hospital for the administration of prostaglandin, which causes the elimination of the embryo. 

"I miss the air", shortly after the heart stops
Initially nothing suspicious was detected, even after a visit and an ultrasound. Four hours after the abortion, however, the first crisis occurred: "I miss the air" said the lady and the doctors diagnosed "ventricular fibrillation". Soon after the woman lost consciousness, her heart stopped. The emergency intervention saved the 37-year-old who was taken to resuscitation. But there came another crisis.

The family did not file a complaint
The 25 minutes of desperate attempts to restart the heart did not work. And the woman died. Before the possible intervention of the prosecutor, the Martini hospital decided to proceed with the autopsy. The family has not filed a complaint for now. Martini's general and health management obtained a report from the doctor who followed the woman. According to the information on the medical record, the lady did not suffer from particular pathologies and was therefore not considered at risk for using the abortion pill. Even the gynecologist she had contacted for abortion would not have given an opinion opposed to the termination of a pharmacological rather than surgical pregnancy. 

The head physician: we made no medical errors
The head physician of the obstetrics and gynecology department of the Martini hospital in Turin, Flavio Carnino, guaranteed that "no medical errors were made, all the protocols were respected, which are always used in these cases. " 

The Turin Prosecutor's Office opens an investigation
The Turin Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation into the case. Prosecutor Gianfranco Colace has ordered an autopsy on the body, which will be performed on Monday morning. Meanwhile, the hospital has launched an internal investigation. The causes of death, the doctors explain, are currently unknown. At the same time, the Ministry of Health also opened a file and asked the Piedmont Region for a report on the case. "I will not pronounce myself until there is an autopsy report", commented the Minister, to whom Giorgia Meloni, FdI, asked to report in Parliament. 

The victim: a precarious teacher
The woman, 37, was a teacher who was not yet tenured, already the mother of a 5-year-old child. On the social networks, the friends of the woman - who, in this period, was engaged in a battle against the privatization of nurseries - write their farewell with this phrase: the sky as a big heart.