ABORTION: HEALTH RISKS

9 June 2010 COUNCIL

Mr KAVANAGH (Western Victoria) -- My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Health and relates to the apparent link between abortion and breast cancer. During the abortion debate in this Parliament in late 2008 I went into considerable detail, listing some of the scientific evidence which demonstrates that having an abortion increases a woman's risk of developing breast cancer. Even more recent scientific studies released in 2009 confirm such a link.

Concerned Victorians who have some expertise in these matters have reported to me that they have approached various health organisations and health leaders in Victoria to alert them to the latest research, but they have not received any acknowledgement or any other kind of response.

The submitted research includes the following: Ozmen V. and others in 'Breast cancer risk factors in Turkish women' in the World Journal of Surgical Oncology, 2009, 7:37; Xing P. and others in 'A case-control study of reproductive factors associated with subtypes of breast cancer in Northeast China' in Medical Oncology, e-publication online, September 2009; Dolle J. and others in 'Risk factors for triple-negative breast cancer in women under the age of 45 years' in Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009, 18(4), pages 1157-1166.

Apparently these important warnings are being ignored by the health authorities to which they are being reported. It seems difficult to avoid the conclusion that ideological commitment to unrestricted abortion may be preventing a proper assessment of the health risks of abortion.

The action I seek from the minister is that he seek an objective review of the evidence of a relationship between abortions and breast cancer risk, and if such a link is shown to exist, to issue medical warnings along these lines, even if this has the effect of reducing the number of abortions.