SYDNEY (AP) — More than 700 Australian women in a class-action case against pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson that started Tuesday argued that the company's vaginal mesh implants caused them devastating pain, ravaged their bodies and, in some cases, ruined their lives.

Patients across the United States, United Kingdom and Canada have filed tens of thousands of lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson and other pelvic mesh manufacturers over the devices, which are used to treat urinary incontinence and repair pelvic organ prolapse, a condition often caused by childbirth in which organs shift out...