Nuns should go on the pill, say experts

Catholic nuns should go on the pill, two experts have argued.

Experts Dr Kara Britt and Professor Roger Short say that taking the contraceptive pill would protect nuns from breast, ovarian and womb cancer.

Deaths from all three diseases are known to be more prevalent among “nulliparous” women, such as nuns, who never give birth to children.

The suggestion that nuns should be given the pill was made in a comment article published online by medical journal The Lancet.

Childless women have more menstrual cycles than mothers, which is said to increase cancer risk.

The risk reduces if women have their first child at a young age, bear larger numbers of children and breastfeed.

Studies have shown that, overall, mortality among women using the pill is 12% lower than among those who never use it, according to the Australian experts.

They say the risk of developing cancer of the ovaries and womb lining was 50% to 60% lower in pill users.

This protection is known to persist for 20 years. However, the combined oestrogen/progestogen pill can increase the risk of blood clots.

The two authors, from Monash and Melbourne universities, referred to Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae, a controversial encyclical letter in 1968 that condemned all forms of contraception.

They say: “Although Humanae Vitae never mentions nuns, they should be free to use the contraceptive pill to protect against the hazards of nulliparity since the document states that ‘the Church in no way regards as unlawful therapeutic means considered necessary to cure organic diseases, even though they also have a contraceptive effect’.

They say that if the Catholic Church were to make the pill available to nuns, it would reduce the risk of cancer of the ovary and uterus.