A group of pregnant Canadian women launched a class-action lawsuit Friday against the maker of a recalled birth control pill after it was discovered the packages contained mostly placebos.

The lawsuit over 45 unwanted pregnancies and four abortions seeks Can$800 million (US$778.8 million) against pharmaceutical firm Apotex, the maker of the birth control pill Alysena.

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“When they first got the news that they were pregnant they were shocked, stressed out and very worried,” lawyer Sandy Zaitzeff said of his clients.

“Raising a child today costs millions of dollars,” he told AFP. “In this modern world, people enter into relationships and don’t necessarily want to have a child and so should not be burdened with the costs of raising a child.”

Thousands of pill packages with the lot number LF01899A were recalled April 8 because some packages contained two weeks worth of placebo pills instead of just one.

Days later, the recall was expanded to 11 other lots, for a total of 550,000 packages.

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq has ordered an investigation into a five-day delay in informing the public.