A Risk to Avoid
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in American women, second only to skin cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2008, 182,460 American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 40,480 American women will lose their lives because of breast cancer.
In spite of these statistics, many women are being kept in the dark about a preventable risk factor of breast cancer: abortion. Due to the politics surrounding abortion, many organizations are afraid to speak out about the link between abortion and breast cancer.
Is abortion a risk factor for
breast cancer?
When a woman becomes pregnant her body begins to go through biological
changes in order to prepare for childbirth. Increased levels of estrogen
during pregnancy cause a woman’s breasts to enlarge with cells that will
eventually allow for milk production. By the time of a full-term birth
these cells have differentiated into milk producing tissue and have stopped
multiplying. These cells are resistant to cancer because they have been
differentiated into a specific type of cell and cell multiplication process
has been stopped.
If a woman has an abortion before her 3rd trimester of pregnancy, her breasts are left with more undifferentiated cells that are more vulnerable to cancer than if she had never been pregnant.
What about miscarriages?
Researchers have found that most miscarriages don’t raise the risk of
breast cancer because these pregnancies don’t produce enough estrogen,
which is the driving factor behind the proliferation of undifferentiated,
cancer-vulnerable cells.
What do the scientific studies
show?
Twenty-nine out of 38 worldwide studies dating back to 1957 show that
abortion increases a woman’s risk of getting breast cancer later in life.
In studies done on women from the United States, 13 out of 16, show an
increased risk of breast cancer associated with abortion.
One study which appeared in the International Journal of Epidemiology in 1989 and relied on New York state medical records reported that abortion increased a woman’s risk of getting breast cancer by 90%. (Howe et al. (1989) Int J Epidemiol 18:300 4)
In 1996, Dr. Joel Brind combined the statistics from 23 different worldwide studies and found a 30% increase of breast cancer risk among women who chose abortion after already giving birth and a 50% increase of breast cancer risk among women who chose abortion before giving birth. (Brind, et al. Jrnl of Epidemiol Community Health (1996);50:481 96)
A study done on African-American women by researchers at Howard University showed that African-American women over 50 were almost 5 times more likely to get breast cancer if they had abortions compared with women who had never received an abortion. (Laing et al (1993) J National Med Assoc. 85:931 9 Breast cancer risk factors in African -American women: the Howard University Tumor Resistry experience.)
It is also universally recognized
by experts in breast cancer that an early first full term pregnancy lowers
a woman’s risk of getting breast cancer. Another recent study published
in the Lancet found that breast feeding is another way women can lower
their risk of breast cancer (Beral, V (July 20, 2002) Lancet 360:187-95).
Women who abort their first pregnancy don’t get the protective effects
of a first full term pregnancy and don’t receive the protective effects
of breast feeding.
Flawed Study Cited by Pro-Abortion Organizations
Pro-abortion organizations often like to quote a study (Melbye, et
al. “Induced Abortion and the Risk of Breast Cancer,” New England Journal
of Medicine (1997);336:81 5) done on Danish women in an attempt to
prove that abortion has no link to breast cancer. This study was flawed
in a couple of ways. First, it counted thousands of women who had abortions
as not having abortions since in Denmark abortion was legalized in 1939
but Melbye study didn’t start recording women who had abortions until
1973 since that is when the records were computerized. Second, the Melbye
study started counting cases of breast cancer in 1968 even though it didn’t
start counting abortions until 1973. They were trying to determine if
abortion caused breast cancer but were including cases of women who had
breast cancer 5 years before they recognized abortions as occurring. It
is also noteworthy that in the Melbye study the average age of women procuring
an abortion was over the age of 35 while in the United States the average
age of women getting abortions is around 25.
Women Should be Told
Even if pro-abortion groups can’t accept that abortion takes the life
of an innocent human being they should at least warn women of the possible
risks relating to breast cancer that having an abortion can cause. Women
should have the right to know that a majority of worldwide studies show
that abortion can increase a woman’s risk of getting breast cancer later
in life.
Helpful web sites
www.abortionbreastcancer.com
www.lifeissues.net/writers/kah/kah_07chap2overview1.html
www.BCPInstitute.org
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