Breast Cancer Awareness

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  The media is reporting on the latest research regarding its cause and cures as well as ways to reduce one’s risk.  However, amidst all this much-needed discussion, one major risk is rarely mentioned: abortion.  Publicly recognizing that abortion can cause an increased risk in developing breast cancer would be quite detrimental to the pro-abortion movement, and women would be rightfully upset that they had not been informed of all the risks they faced when choosing an abortion over adoption or parenting.  The pro-abortion movement has been irresponsible by ignoring so many studies that show a clear correlation between abortion and breast cancer.  Women deserve to know the truth so that they can make truly informed decisions.

Scientific Explanation
During pregnancy, a woman’s body undergoes a miraculous transformation in preparing for pregnancy and birth.  A pregnant woman’s hormone levels increase rapidly during this time by producing very high levels of estrogen and progesterone.  This hormone surge induces the breast cells to divide and start a maturing process (known as differentiation), whereby they are changed into mammary (milk-producing) glands.  When a woman undergoes an induced abortion, this natural process of differentiation is abruptly stopped, leaving the breast cells in a state of transition and thus more vulnerable to carcinogens.  In contrast, once a woman has completed her pregnancy and given birth to her child, her breast cells will have finished the maturation process and will become stable again, often increasing the protective effect against developing breast cancer in the future.  This is why girls and women who chose induced abortion before their first full term pregnancy are at a much higher risk for breast cancer.
 
Scientific Studies
Over 75% of scientific studies regarding breast cancer and abortion have shown that abortion is a risk factor for breast cancer.  Many of these studies were at least partially funded by the National Cancer Institute (which still denies evidence of a positive association).  Janet Daling at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute in Seattle says in her 1994 study, “[A]mong women who had been pregnant at least once, the breast cancer rate in those who had experienced an induced abortion was 50% higher than among other women.  Highest risks were observed when the abortion was done at ages younger than 18 years…or at least 30 years of age or older.”  In that study, the twelve women who had a family history of breast cancer and who had chosen abortions when they were teenagers all developed breast cancer.  
 
Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
Despite the commendable efforts of The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation to promote breast cancer screening and awareness, the Foundation refuses to acknowledge a connection between abortion and breast cancer.  If the Foundation really were concerned about curing breast cancer, they would acknowledge the vast scientific data supporting the connection between induced abortion and breast cancer.  The Foundation would also support, rather than discredit, efforts to inform women considering abortion about the increased risk of developing breast cancer after an induced abortion.  Ironically, many local Komen Foundations also work in tandem with and give portions of their proceeds to Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion provider.
 
Breast Cancer Prevention Institute (BCPI)
BCPI was formed in 1999 by a team of medical doctors who saw a need to educate the public on the link between abortion and breast cancer.  Dr. Joel Brind is a scientist and researcher, Dr. Angela Lanfranchi is a breast cancer surgeon, Dr. John T. Bruchalski is an obstetrician-gynecologist, and Dr. William L. Toffler is a family practice physician and professor of family medicine.  Through research publications, lectures, and the Internet, they increase awareness of risk reduction strategies that are not widely known to the public and even healthcare professionals.  In 2003, BCPI was instrumental in guiding Texas legislators to include the abortion-breast cancer link in the mandated informed consent materials given to women twenty-four hours prior to undergoing an abortion.  If you would like to support an organization whose goal is to reduce breast cancer, please consider BCPI (www.BCPInstitute.org).