Abortion increases cancer risk

The 16-year-old who gets an abortion is 200 times more likely to die from breast cancer, as a result of that abortion, than if she had carried the child to term.
-- Dr. Joel Brind, PhD, professor of biology & endocrinology at Baruch College

Abortion increases cancer risk

Reprinted from The Standard 4/6/93

Women who have had abortions have a greater risk of developing breast cancer, The Washington Times reported Friday, and because of the increase in breast cancer risk, women are 200 times more likely to die from aborting their first pregnancy than from carrying the fetus to term.
Delaying childbirth until later in life also increases one's risk, studies show.
Dr. Joel Brind, an endocrinologist and biologist now doing cancer research, was in Washington to bring his findings on breast cancer to the attention of the Congress. He met with both Senate and House staff members during his two-day visit, which was sponsored by the Ad Hoc Committee in Defense of Life, a Washington-based pro-life group.
He has cited 19 other sources [see sidebar], including a 1986 Lancet article which states that "induced abortion before first-term pregnancy increases the risk of breast cancer."
"A woman who has a baby as a teenager has about a 7% lifetime risk of getting breast cancer, " he said, "but a woman who aborts her first pregnancy has about double that risk -- 15% or more."
"I've been trying to get this in the paper" for a long time, said Dr. Brind, professor of biology and endocrinology at Baruch College of the City University of New York.
Dr. Brind has been studying the abortion-breast cancer link since 1982. He is a Yale graduate with degrees in biology, chemistry and endocrinology from New York University.
"There is a clear relationship documented in medical journals showing that women aborting their first pregnancy are at a much higher risk of developing breast cancer than those who carry their pregnancy to term," he told an audience of "Beverly LaHaye Live" Monday afternoon.
Scientific studies have demonstrated these facts for the last 12 years, but the liberal media have been unwilling to publish the findings, he said. According to the Ad Hoc Committee in Defense of Life, only The Washington Times, Richmond Times-Dispatch and Chicago Sun-Times have run the story.
"This has been known for years now," Dr. Brind said, "But the abortion industry," along with the media, has squelched the facts.
Dr. Brind cited a number of unbiased studies, including:

a 1981 Los Angeles study which found a 2.4-fold higher incidence of breast cancer among women younger than 33 who had had an abortion before a live birth;
a New York study by Dr. Holly Howe that included all upstate and Long Island, New York women between 1976 and 1980 who developed breast cancer before age 40. The study showed a 90% increase among women who aborted their first pregnancy. All 10 women who had had two consecutive abortions developed breast cancer.
a Russian 1978 study published by Larissa Remennick in 1990, indicating that women who had aborted one or two pregnancies had a 200% chance of developing breast cancer. Those with three or more tripled their risk, her study found.

numerous other studies in Denmark, Japan, Canada, Israel, France, and the US found the same link.

Journal articles demonstrating abortion-breast cancer link:
MacMahon B, Cole P, Lin TM, Lowe CR, Mirra AP, Ravnihar B, Salbor EJ, Valaoras VG, Yunsa S (1970) Bulletin of the World Health Organization 43:209-21
Pike MC, Henderson BE, Casagrande JT, Rosario I, Gray GE (1981) British Journal of Cancer 43:72-6
Yuan J-M, Yu MC, Ross RK, Gao Y-T, Henderson BE (1988) Cancer Research 48:1949-53
Brinton LA, Hoover R, Fraumeni JF, Jr (1983) British Journal of Cancer 47:756-62
Rosenberg L, Palmer JR, Kaufman DW, Strom BL, Schottenfeld D, Shapiro S (1988) American Journal of Epidemiology 127:981-9
Howe HL, Schie RT, Baduch H, Herzfeld P (1989) International Journal of Epidemiology 18:300-4
Hirohata T, Shigematsu T, Nomura AMY, Horie A, Hirohata I (1985) National Cancer Institute Monographs 69:187-90
Ewertz M, Duffy SW (1988) British Journal of Cancer 58:99-104
Parazzini F, La Vecchia C, Negri E (1991) International Journal of Cancer 48:816--20
Remennick LI (1989) International Journal of Epidemiology 18:498-510
Stadel BV, Rubin CL, Wingo PA, Schlesselman JJ (1986) Lancet i:436
Soini I (1977) International Journal of Epidemiology 6:365-73
Hadjimichael OC, Boyle CA, Meigs JW (1986) British Journal of Cancer 53:281-4
Russo J, Russo I, II (1980) American Journal of Pathology 100:497-512
Olsson H, Ranstam J, Baldetorp B, Ewers S-B, Ferno M, Killander D, Sigurdsson (1991) Cancer 67:1285-90

Misc. Breast Cancer Links:
25 foods that fight breast cancer
Breast Cancer: Doctor's Guide to the Internet
Clinical Trials: Johns Hopkins News on Breast CA

These studies, for years, have been published in such reputable publications as the Journal of Epidemiological Community Health, the International Journal of Epidemiology and the British Journal of Cancer.

But the American media, far from pro-woman on this one, have refused to tell the truth.

"The real risks -- over and above the known risks of postponing childbearing -- are abortion before full-term pregnancy and multiple abortions," Dr. Brind wrote in the British Columbia Report March 8.

"The range of increased risk due to abortion before first full-term pregnancy is about the same as the risk attributable to one's mother having the disease (40-100%), and the risk elevation due to multiple abortions (up to 300%) is similar to the range found for women whose mother and sister have been stricken with breast cancer (300-500%)," he said.

According to Dr. Brind's findings, any interruption in pregnancy, whether a spontaneous ("miscarriage") or induced abortion, increases the risk significantly. Abortions that occur earlier in pregnancy are more likely to cause cancer, he said.

"It's dangerous not to complete any pregnancy," said Dr. Brind. "Even if the baby is going to be a goner, for the sake of the mother, is far better to carry the baby to term."

The longer the woman carries the child, Brind explained, the less likely it is she will develop breast cancer, all other risks aside, because of the change in hormonal levels during the later stage of pregnancy.

"But I'm certainly not advocating third-trimester abortions," Brind added.

Breast cancer is caused by excess estrogen, the female sex hormone. Estrogen levels normally increase during puberty and pregnancy, when the breasts are increasing in size, Dr. Brind explained. Any interruption in that level is risky, he said, because the woman's body will lack the counterbalancing hormones produced at the end of pregnancy, whch bring the estrogen level back to normal.

If a woman has an abortion, her risk of developing breast cancer is worse than if she had never become pregnant, Dr. Brind said. The 16-year-old who gets an abortion is 200 times more likely to die from breast cancer, as a result of that abortion, than if she had carried the child to term, he said.

Current estimates on the number of women who will develop breast cancer have been increasing in recent years, from one in 11 just a few years ago, to one in 10, to one in nine, and now one in eight....

"These facts have been known since 1959 or 1960," he added, but "the abortion industry" has attempted to perpetuate public ignorance of the truth. Dr. Brind said "the abortion industry" has several falsehoods it seeks to maintain, for monetary reasons. Included among these, he said, are (1) the lie that it is safer to abort than to carry a child to term; and (2) the lie that there are not enough people to adopt.

"The fact that miscarriages, spontaneous abortions, also have the same effects upon the woman's body proves this is not a random finding," Dr. Brind said. "The effects are the same."

So RU-486, which also interrupts pregnancy, may not be as "safe" as feminists would have us believe. How can they call themselves "pro-woman"? Where have they been all these years, squelching the truth?

"For they are a nation lacking in counsel & there is no understanding in them. Would that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would discern their future!" Deut 32:28 "They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons & their daughters...& the land was polluted with blood..." Psa106:38

Email: Diane@dianedew.com

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INDEX of Other Abortion-related Articles by Diane Dew

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