A man who induced his ex-girlfriend’s miscarriage in her twelfth week of pregnancy by tricking her into taking abortion pills he had slipped into a smoothie, claims his actions were “the only way out”.

Prosecutors are vying for a seven year sentence for the 26-year-old man, who has pleaded guilty to both inflicting serious bodily harm and terminating a pregnancy without the mother’s consent at a court in Trondheim, Norway.

The man told the court that he “had a bad conscience and felt remorse” over his actions but that he believed it was “the only way out”, the Norwegian broadcaster NRK reports.

“He had tried several times to convince me to have an abortion but it was not an option for me,” the 20-year-old woman told the court.

Lacing the smoothie with abortion pills was the man’s second attempt to make is ex-girlfriend lose the child, The Local reports.

The man had purchased the pills over the internet and attempted to induce a miscarriage early on in the pregnancy by telling the woman they were painkillers.

When this did not result in a miscarriage, the man purchased a second batch of pills, claiming he was concerned after reading online that an unsuccessful abortion attempt could lead to a child being born with deformities.

After the woman drank the smoothie she experienced severe abdominal pain and later miscarried.

It was discovered by the woman’s doctor that her miscarriage had been induced by a high dose of abortion medicine.

The man told the court he felt “like a total shitbag” when the severity of his actions dawned on him.

Prosecutor Kaja Strandfjord told local paper Andresseavisen: “He imported these substances. All of it was precisely and clinically planned.”

Tore Angen, the man’s lawyer, said a sentence of seven years would be “totally wrong, especially considering that he has confessed and has custody over a child from before,” he said.