Posted on 01/22/2002 10:16:04 PM PST by Byron_the_Aussie
MELBOURNE, Australia - In what is believed to be the first case of its kind, a woman in Australia has settled with an abortion practitioner she had sued because he failed to inform her of the research linking abortion with breast cancer. Both pro-life and abortion-rights advocates wonder if similar settlements might not follow suit in the United States.
A confidentiality agreement prevents details of the settlement, which was negotiated in September and just recently became public, from being released. But Australian legal precedent, said Australian attorney Charles Francis, requires doctors to inform their patients of any material risks of a recommended surgical procedure.
Francis said another suit involving the abortion breast-cancer link is also moving forward in Australia. "In a case to be heard in New South Wales shortly, 'Mary' is suing a hospital and an abortionist for failure to warn her of the increased breast-cancer risk," he told the Register.
American pro-lifers hailed the news out of Australia.
"We're delighted with the settlement of an abortion/breast-cancer case," said Karen Malec, president of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer. "The abortion industry and its medical experts know that it will be far more challenging for them to lie to women about the abortion/breast- cancer research when they are called upon to testify under oath. Scientists know that abortion causes breast cancer but are afraid to say so publicly in today's hostile political climate."
Dr. Chris Kahlenborn, physician internist in Altoona, Pa., and author of Breast Cancer: Its Link to Abortion and the Birth Control Pill, admitted that he was surprised by the Australian settlement. And while he said it was good news, he also questioned whether any U.S. courts will follow suit.
"Despite the hard evidence, my opinion is that the medical literature [downplaying the abortion/breast-cancer link] and the secular media are so strong that it would be very difficult to win a case like this," Kahlenborn said. "I still think it will be more difficult to expect any kind of justice in this country. If Planned Parenthood allows a case to be settled or loses a case, they know it will be the beginning of the end."
Patrick Gillen, an attorney with the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Thomas More Law Center, is more optimistic. "I am not at all surprised by the decision to settle given the strength of the scientific evidence showing that induced abortion causes an increased risk of breast cancer," said Gillen. "For the same reason I think that similar lawsuits are virtually certain to be filed and won in the United States."
Read the rest of this article.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.