The Unmentionable Risk Factor for Breast Cancer

It is an undeniable, scientific fact that pregnancy affects the breast tissue and aborting a pregnancy denies the woman the long-term protective effect of her full-term pregnancy. Pregnant women who are considering an abortion need to know that they elevate their risk of breast cancer if they choose abortion over childbirth.There is a large body of evidence supporting the finding that a decision to terminate a pregnancy significantly increases a woman's risk of breast cancer and women must be informed of this literature.

The concept of informed consent is fundamental in Canadian medical practice. Regardless of how futile or relevant a particular procedure is in the eyes of the doctor, it is ultimately the patient who will decide to accept or refuse a treatment. The right to informed consent is rendered meaningless if the patient is not given sufficient information. Thus there is a legal obligation placed on doctors to provide all of the material information in order for their patients to make an informed choice. It is now well established that failure to disclose information may result in a finding of negligence against a doctor.[1]

The Supreme Court Decision in Reibl v. Hughes (1980), Chief Justice Laskin wrote "...even if a certain risk is a mere possibility which ordinarily need not be disclosed, yet if its occurrence carries serious consequences, it should be regarded as a material risk requiring disclosure". The Chief Justice actually rejected the original professional disclosure standard in his decision, making the amount of information to be disclosed to patients much greater than what the medical profession had previously observed.