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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 9 Hansard (21 August) . . Page.. 2592 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

How will I feel a year after the adoption is completed?

How do I feel about abortion?

How do I feel about having an abortion?

What are the pros and cons of abortion?

How will I feel six months from now if I have an abortion?

How will I feel in two years?

What are my ethical/religious beliefs about abortion?

When do I believe a life begins?

How do these beliefs affect this decision?

Am I making this decision freely?

There is information available.

While the 72-hour cooling-off period is well intentioned, there are problems with it and not much benefit. This administrative procedure interferes to the detriment in particular of women from the surrounding region. The decision, in any case, is one that women do not generally rush into. One speaker tonight compared it to making a decision when a door-to-door salesman calls to sell a vacuum cleaner. That is an interesting indication of what some people think this decision is like for women. Someone coming to my door and offering to sell me something is put into the same category as me getting pregnant and considering whether or not to terminate that pregnancy. People who put that argument apparently do not believe that women find this difficult, which is a contradiction of what they are arguing. That comparison is quite curious.

Providers must exercise care in ensuring that the women asking for an abortion are informed of the risks, as they must be for other procedures, and that they are clear about their decision. All medical procedures, including abortion, require the practitioner to obtain the patient's written consent. This is not spelled out directly in the ACT law. If it were, it would be an improvement, and perhaps we might see it in the mooted new Health Act. But it is an established part of common law, as Mr Berry detailed in the earlier debate.

Mrs Dunne made a few passionate statements-maybe she was upset and was not careful with her words-about breast cancer. Mrs Dunne put on the public record for the ACT community that we had failed because we had not told 18-year-old girls in Canberra that if they had an abortion they would probably get breast cancer at the age of 45.

That is a very strong statement. I am concerned that Mrs Dunne made it in this Assembly without prefacing it with some qualification. She suggested that this is a fact. This place requires that we take very seriously what we say, because it obviously has an impact in the ACT community. I would like to balance that statement with some of the research I have done. While researchers do not know what causes breast cancer, reproductive factors have been associated with risk for the disease since the 17th century, when breast cancer was noted to be more prevalent among nuns.

It is known that having a full-time pregnancy early in a woman's child-bearing years is protective against breast cancer. Some studies have also indicated that breastfeeding, especially in women who are young when they give birth, may reduce a woman's risk of developing the disease. A woman's age at menarche and menopause also influences her risk of breast cancer, with earlier onset of regular menstrual cycles and later age at menopause associated with higher risk (Kelsey and Gammon, 1991). However, the best

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