Cancer researchers advocate Pill for nuns

Two Australian doctors think nuns should be offered the contraceptive pill on health grounds.

Kara Britt of Monash University and Roger Short of the University of Melbourne believe the tablet would cut the risk of ovarian, breast and uterine cancer - which are all more common in women who don't have kids - for Catholic nuns, who take a vow of chastity.

The medical pair wrote in The Lancet medical journal: "If the Catholic Church could make the oral contraceptive pill freely available to all its nuns, it would reduce the risk of those accursed pests, cancer of the ovary and uterus, and give nuns' plight the recognition it deserves."

The overall mortality rate for women using the contraceptive pill is around 12% lower than those who have never taken it.