Tehan Pulps 'Harmful' Health Report
By BILL BIRNBAUER, health editor, The Age, 10 September 1994
The health Minister, Mrs. Tehan ordered the pulping of a major review of Victoria's health statistics to remove references to the number of abortion; in the state.
A statement by Mrs. Tehan’s office cites the shooting of a US doctor outside an abortion clinic last sear as an extreme example of the potential harm which could accompany publishing this data.
The statement says the release of specific information about pregnancy termination was not in the public interest "because of its contentious nature and the possibility such information could be misused".
Mrs. Tehan is believed to have been disturbed by sections in the report which broke down the number of abortions in each region of the state.
She is also believed to have directed that a table which included deaths by suicide be changed to give less prominence to the suicides.
The Age has obtained sections of the original 169-page report which was to have been launched publicly at a conference on health last week.
The report was prepared by the Department of Health and Community Services public health monitoring and evaluation unit.
Figures, now expunged from the report, showed that the number of pregnancy terminations in Victoria increased from 1321 in 1991 to 5101 in 1992. This increased the abortion rate From 429.7 per 100.000 women to 186.1 per 100.000.
The original report said: "Rates for termination of pregnancy and for teenage pregnancies can thus be used as indicators of the availability and effectiveness of sexual education and family planning programs".
The pulped report listed deaths from suicide under the heading "Victoria: Indicators of mental illness". The figures show that the number of suicides decreased in all categories, except from drug overdoses among young women, where there was a small increase.
Mrs. Tehan's statement says the information's placement at the top of the list of mental health indicators was inappropriate.
She says there was debate on whether the information would be better placed under the "injuries" category. The statement says Mrs. Tehan felt it's inclusion under "menial illness" was insensitive to people suffering psychiatric conditions.
The statement says the report was printed without ministerial approval and the department had been asked to correct it.
The aim of the report is to provide information that would assist in setting priorities for the allocation of resources, the monitoring of services and the evaluation of health policy.
A doctor who performed abortions in Florida and Alabama was shot and killed outside a clinic in March last year by an anti-abortion protestor. Soon after Dr. David Gunn's death, The National Abortion Federation, representing 200 clinics, reported that vandalism of clinics more than doubled from 1991 to 1992 and that arson cases increased from four in 1990 to 12 the following year.