Breast cancer doctor is one of the biggest names left after several politicians pull out of World Congress of Families

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

The conservative World Congress of Families promoted the controversial American breast cancer doctor Angela Lanfranchi as its star conference speaker on Saturday, after several politicians who were scheduled to appear pulled out.

Lanfranchi is an anti-abortion advocate who continues to push the discredited idea of a link between abortion and breast cancer.



Hundreds of the world’s leading doctors, scientists and researchers who reviewed all the studies on the relationship between pregnancy and breast cancer have found abortions and miscarriages do not increase a woman’s breast cancer risk.



Lanfranchi was one of the biggest names organisers had left after the last-minute withdrawal of the anti-abortion campaigner and Victorian upper house Liberal member Bernie Finn, the federal social services minister, Kevin Andrews, and the Victorian attorney general, Robert Clark.



“There is a misperception in your country that scientists at the national cancer institute in my country do not support that there is a link between abortion and breast cancer,” Lanfranchi told attendees.



“In fact they do.”



She cited only studies involving rats to support her claims.



The US National Cancer Institute website states: “The evidence overall still does not support early termination of pregnancy as a cause of breast cancer.”



A spokeswoman for the feminist group Radical Women, Debbie Brennan, joined protesters outside the conference, and said it was more than a “harmless talk-shop about ideas”.



“Their views mean a world of hurt for ordinary people and our families and we will not just stand by and let it happen,” she said.



After a delayed start marred by protests that prevented some speakers from getting inside the venue, about 200 attendees were at the congress by the afternoon to hear from Lanfranchi and Fred Nile, leader of the New South Wales Christian Democrats.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Fred Nile at the World Congress of Families. Photograph: Meredith O'Shea/Guardian

Nile spoke to the congress about “God’s creative purposes for planet earth”.

“My main point is Christians must be involved in politics and must be involved in government. All this softening up of legislation is because we don’t have committed Christians there.”

Nile recalled the debate in NSW parliament about the same-sex marriage bill, lamenting that Christians “threw their values out the window” by trying to dismiss same-sex marriage while also refusing to vote against it.



He said God had opened Nile’s eyes by telling him to use parliament as his church.

“For all of us who go into government, we become God’s ministers,” he said.

“But he doesn’t want brutal dictators, he wants loving, caring members of parliament who are doing his will and not letting the power go to their head.”

Nile described the protesters as anti-God and anti-Christ, describing the largely peaceful scenes outside as a “brutal battle”.

“I believe there is a devil or an evil spiritual force behind those people out there today,” he said.

“It’s not coming out of their minds. There’s a greater force behind that person. The devil is putting his will and his words into their mouths.”

Nile concluded by outlining what his ideal society would look like.

“[It would be] a society marked by faithful, lasting, lifelong marriages between a man and woman,” he said.

“A drug-free society. A pro-life society. No pornography or prostitution. A society with wholesome public entertainment. A God-honouring, Christ-centred Christian nation.”

Three people gave him a standing ovation.

“He was the only parliamentarian who stuck with us for the whole controversy,” event organiser Babette Francis said after his speech.

“The others didn’t have the courage to come.”



Throughout the day protesters gathered outside the gates in what was a largely peaceful demonstration against the anti-abortion, anti-feminist, anti-gay and anti-euthanasia views held by the congress attendees.



The protesters danced in the street and music from a large bus of protesters that pulled up just before 1pm could be heard from inside.



Two protesters were arrested earlier in the day as they blocked the front gates to the venue in the south-eastern Melbourne suburb of Hallam.



The event was moved to the controversial Catch the Fire ministries church just one day before, after five other venues declined to host it. It was after the move to Catch the Fire that the politicians rushed to dissociate themselves from the event.

Catch the Fire ministries pastor Danny Nalliah. Photograph: Meredith O'Shea/Guardian

Catch the Fire pastor Daniel Nalliah founded the anti-Islamic political party Rise Up Australia and famously blamed the Black Saturday bushfires on Victoria’s abortion laws.



Even conference attendees told Guardian Australia Catch the Fire was “just a venue” to them, and they did not necessarily share Nalliah’s views.

Key themes from the day included equating sexual health with sterilisation and abortion; and criticising fatherless families for leading to broken homes and homeless children.



A theologian and Anglican pastor, Mark Durie, spoke about the importance of marriage. A breakdown of the traditional family structure – that is a man and woman marrying and raising their own biological children – was troubling, he said.

“This is causing an epidemic of social problems in the UK.



“The difficulty of prosecuting rape cases when the woman is drunk is difficult and distressing.



“If you rationally point out girls are more likely to be sexually abused – as many as 20 times – by a stepfather than a biological father this is not a slur.



“It’s just one of the facts of life.”



Louise Kirk, UK coordinator for Alive to the World character education, spoke about a “scourge” overtaking schools – sex education.



“This is a scourge because from a breakdown of the passing down of values from parents in all our societies, children are lost,” she said.



“And there is no one to pick them up and aspire them to marriage.”



She said children had spiritual imagination which was filled with God.



“And if they’re not filled with God there isn’t a vacuum,” she said.



“Without God they get filled with they get filled with pornography or terror or computer games.



“If you’re going to teach children sexuality you need to teach children correctly with the best teachers. And the best teachers are the parents. The parents protect their modesty.”



Managing director of the World Congress of Families, Larry Jacobs, who wrapped up the day, told attendees that marriage was a lifelong union of one man and one woman, raising their children in a loving and nurturing way.

“We believe that sex should be within that union,” he said.

“Fifty years ago, we wouldn’t have had to explain this.”

He said 90% of all the world’s poverty was caused by the breakdown of the family unit.