Bitter Pill

On Sunday's 60 Minutes Tara Brown looks to the legacy of unmarried pregnant women in Australia in the 1950s - 1970s and what many of them sadly endured.

Bitter Pill
It's a scandal that's hard to believe. In the 1950s, 60s and 70s as many as one hundred and fifty thousand young Australian women were coerced into giving up their babies. The reason? They weren't married. For the vast majority it was a heartbreaking torment. But as Tara Brown reveals in this 60 Minutes special report, there was worse to come. Tens of thousands of these teenage mothers, maybe more, were then made to take a drug to stop their supply of breast milk. What they weren't told, despite it being widely known at the time, was that Stilboestrol, also called DES, was linked to cancer and other serious diseases. It's a bitter pill that has not only wreaked havoc on the women, but they now fear they've passed on its terrible curse to their subsequent children and grandchildren.
Reporter: Tara Brown
Producer: Laura Sparkes