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Women have the right to know that there are now 27 out of 34 worldwide studies (from among those 13 out of 14 were American studies) which show a link between induced abortion and breast cancer, seventeen of which are statistically significant, and most of which have been done by abortion supporters. The first study was published in an English publication in 1957 and focused on Japanese women. It showed a 2.6 or 160% increased risk of breast cancer among women who had had an induced abortion. [Segi et al. (1957) GANN 48 (Suppl.):1-63] Abortion is an "elective surgical procedure and a woman’s exposure to the hormones of early pregnancy -- if it is interrupted -- is so great, that just one interrupted pregnancy is enough to make a significant difference in her risk" (Professor Joel Brind, President, Breast Cancer Prevention Institute, Endeavour Forum Public Meeting, August 24, 1999, Malvern, Victoria, Australia). The American Cancer Society has stated in its fact sheet that abortion "may be associated with increased breast cancer risk" {American Cancer Society, Cancer Facts & Figures --1996, at 12 (1996)}. (An employee of the American Cancer Society with the Office of Corporation Counsel has asked us to remove the Society's 1996 statement from our web site. We have contacted the Society and asked them to inform us of the legal basis for their request, if any.) Dr. Janet Daling, an abortion supporter, and her colleagues at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center were commissioned by the National Cancer Institute to do a study on the abortion-breast cancer link. The study found that, "among women who had been pregnant at least once, the risk of breast cancer in those who had experienced an induced abortion was 50% higher than among other women." It was also reported that women under the age of 18 or over the age of 29 who obtained induced abortions had more than a twofold increase in risk. Women with a family history of breast cancer who procured an abortion were reported to have statistically significant risk increases of 80 percent. Teenagers under age 18 with a family history breast cancer who procured abortions had an incalculably high risk increase. Because American women already face a lifetime risk of developing breast cancer of about 12 percent, the increased risk from a single induced abortion is comparable to the risk of lung cancer from long-term heavy smoking. However, not all women who have had abortions will get breast cancer, and not all women who have breast cancer have had abortions. There is one more way in which abortion increases the risk of breast cancer. Medical experts universally agree that it is healthier for a married woman not to postpone her first full-term pregnancy. One Harvard study reported that each year that a woman postpones her first full-term pregnancy increases her breast cancer risk by 3.5%. [Dr. Brian MacMahon, Dr. Dimitrios Trichopoulos, et al., “Age at any Birth and Breast Cancer Risk,” International Journal of Cancer, 1983;31:701704]. An abortion causes a woman to forego the benefit of increased protection from breast cancer resulting from an earlier first full-term pregnancy. World Health Organization scientists in 1970 confirmed this saying that, "It is estimated that women having their first child when aged under 18 years have only about one-third the breast cancer risk of those whose first birth is delayed until the age of 35 years or more." (MacMahon B, et al. Bull Wld Health Org, 1970; 43-209-21).
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