For your children's sake

For your children's sake.

And your grandchildren.

Talk about what the evidence shows. That smoking may cause lung cancer; that indiscriminate sex may result in venereal disease; that homosexual sex in particular may result in AIDS; that playing with asbestos may cause mesothelioma; and that there might – just might be – a connection between deliberate abortion and the subsequent development of breast cancer.

How dare we not inform of this possible connection.

If and when this connection is proven beyond any shadow of doubt and we have not informed then we will deserve the condemnation of having failed our children.

But there are contrary voices.

According to a news report the Breast Cancer Network Australia last month said it was "deeply concerned" by statements made by Queensland MP Freya Ostapovitch supporting links between abortion and breast cancer. The network also said the endorsement of such views "may cause unwarranted distress to women with breast cancer…"

Why "unwarranted distress"? Presumably because of self-recrimination in the event of a previous abortion and the realisation that it may have been contributory.

One would imagine that if such women thought there could have been a connection then they would certainly want their daughters to know of this possibility before accepting abortion as just another means of fertility control.

Yes, the "evidence" is disputed but it is compelling. Dr Angela Lanfranchi, a breast surgeon who has paid particular attention to the connection, is speaking in Melbourne and Perth in August and September and already there is media attention. As it happens the Hon. Kevin Andrews is opening proceedings and has been criticised for this even though Dr Lanfranchi is only one of the speakers at the Life, Family and Freedom Conference and there have been calls for the Prime Minister to intervene. Wow, the meeting must be a very dangerous one…

The risk of an – even just possible – increased incidence of breast cancer needs to be known and a part of informed consent that we now take for granted for in Australian medicine for everything except abortion. And the risks of subsequent pre-term birth with all its possible consequences to the baby and post-abortion distress syndrome also need to be known.

And yes, I am pro-life. I confess this before the accusations are levelled as if to entirely discount any contribution I might make.

As well as being pro-life for the baby, I am pro-life for the mother. Despite the advances in treatment now available and the fact that I have not had a death in my breast cancer patients for at least a decade, it is a horrible disease.

Let's talk about it. Let's hear what the experts have to say. No putting down of people just because they are pro-life (but I wish everyone was) and let's talk about it to our children and our grand-children.