Abortion - Breast Cancer Link

"It is known that having a full-term pregnancy early in a woman's childbearing years is protective against breast cancer....Interruption during the first trimester of a first pregnancy causes a cessation of cell differentiation, which may result in a subsequent increase in the risk of cancerous growth in these tissues."

[Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. Web site, "Abortion and Breast Cancer: The Issues" 3 (visited Sep. 5, 1997) http://www.igc.apc.org/ppfa/ab-breas.html]

In our last Rose Review, we offered some websites where you could get information regarding the link between abortion and breast cancer. I hope many of you took the opportunity to become informed about the truth behind what many in the pro-abort community would like to keep secret: that there is indeed a significant link between having had an abortion and developing breast cancer at a young age.

Dr. Angela Lanfranchi, M.D., F.A.C.S., a New Jersey breast cancer surgeon, became suspicious of why her young, thirty-something patients were developing breast cancer. After all, wasn’t this the “grandma disease”? Analysis of her own data showed that 30% of women in their thirties with breast cancer had no family history, but did have an abortion; whereas in her older patients, only 15% had had abortions.

Epidemiologists use six criteria to determine if an association is in fact causal. The six criteria were all met in linking abortion to breast cancer. They are:

• The exposure or risk must precede the disease. (Women who developed breast cancer had previous abortions)
• The preponderance of the studies must show an association. (28 out of 37 studies report an association between abortion and breast cancer)
• The studies must include statistically significant studies. (By 1995, 17 studies worldwide [8 studies included American women] showed a statistically significant link between abortion and breast cancer.)
• There must be a plausible biologic basis. The physiology of the breast provides the best evidence of the link between abortion and breast cancer. If a pregnancy is terminated before the 32^nd week, the woman is left with an increased number of Type 1 and 2 lobules, which are the most sensitive to the carcinogenic effects of estrogen.
• There should be a dose effect, meaning the more you are exposed to a risk, the higher the risk. A study by Melbye et al, 1997, showed that for every week you delay an abortion, the risk of breast cancer increases by 3%. His study showed a statistically significant increase risk of breast cancer among women with second trimester abortions.
• There must be a relative risk of over 3.0, or a 200% increased risk. (Teenagers less than 18 years of age who have abortions between nine and twenty-four weeks gestation have an 800% increased risk, or a relative risk of 9.0 according to the National Cancer Institute’s  commissioned study, Daling et al, 1994. They found the teenage girl’s risk increased to infinity if she also had a family history of breast cancer. This was because all the women in her study who had a family history of breast cancer and had also had an abortion at age 18 or younger, developed breast cancer by the age of 45.

A simple look at the number of breast cancers worldwide since the easy availability of abortion, shows further proof of the link. According to an article by Dr. Lanfranchi for the USCCB, the incidence of breast cancer in the United States has increased to 40% since the legalization of abortion. In Romania, they enjoyed one of the lowest rates of breast cancer anywhere while abortion was outlawed. Now that abortion is legal there, their breast cancer rate is one of the highest in the world. In the United Kingdom, breast cancer rates parallel abortion rates. And China has seen a 40% increase in breast cancer since implementing the one-child-per-family policy and forced abortions.

This is not to say that every woman who develops breast cancer has had an abortion. There are several risk factors for breast cancer, including age, family history, genetics, having the first child after the age of 30 or never having a child, early menstruation(before age 12), late menopause(after age 50), heavy smoking and/or alcohol use, obesity, and prolonged use of hormone replacement therapy(HRT). One of the first studies to discover the link between HRT and breast cancer, was the Million Woman Study done in Great Britain from 1996 -2001. 1,084,110 women aged 50 to 64 were involved. Within 1.5 years, researchers saw an increase in breast cancer from women who had already been taking HRT. Within 4.5 years they saw a significant increase in breast cancer among women who had begun HRT with the initiation of the study. The study was intended to last for 10 years, but was halted because of the high incidence of breast cancer among the participants. The most significant increase in breast cancer followed the use of oestrogen- progestagen combinations rather than from other types of HRT. This study and others like it have led to a decrease in usage of HRT for the treatment of menopausal symptoms. But what about oral contraceptive use? If an increase in estrogen following an abortion is linked to breast cancer. And increased levels of estrogen in HRT are linked to breast cancer. Doesn’t it make sense that increased levels of estrogen in oral contraceptives, especially the higher doses found in emergency contraceptives such as Plan B, would also increase a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer? In separate studies published in 2006 in the “New England Journal of Medicine”, the October edition of “Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention”, and the October issue of “Mayo Clinic Proceedings”, the use of oral contraceptives was confirmed as increasing the risk of developing breast cancer. It goes back to the physiology of the breast. Until a woman has her first full-term pregnancy, her breasts are made up of Type 1 and 2 lobules, which are highly sensitive to the carcinogenic effects of estrogen. The more estrogen a woman is exposed to in her lifetime, the higher her risk of developing breast cancer. So, if abortion increases the risk of breast cancer, and oral contraceptives increase the risk of breast cancer, why does Planned Parenthood continue to say they are a business that cares about the health of women? Why do they oppose any legislation that requires women to get the truth?

Please check out the following websites for detailed information:

www.bcpinstitute.org

www.abortionbreastcancer.com

www.lifeissues.org/AbortionBreastCancer/index.html

www.noroomforcontraception.com

 

 

 

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