Posted on 01/06/2003 8:36:25 AM PST by dead
The National Cancer Institute has been bullied by Congressional conservatives into revising its best judgment on whether abortion increases the risk of breast cancer. Unless the institute can summon the courage to express its true views, it will be severely damaged.
Researchers have long debated whether abortion increases the risk of breast cancer, possibly by altering hormones and tissue development in the breast. A fact sheet distributed by the institute last March noted that studies conducted before the mid-1990's produced inconsistent results but that subsequent studies generally found no association between abortion and breast cancer. The American Cancer Society reached the same conclusion.
Those judgments were anathema to anti-abortion groups, which have been trying to scare women away from abortion by raising the specter of breast cancer. A group of 28 anti-abortion members of Congress complained to Tommy Thompson, secretary of health and human services, that the institute's formulation was "scientifically inaccurate and misleading." So in June, the institute removed the fact sheet from its Web site and later replaced it with a statement that some studies have found an increased risk of cancer while others have not. That statement, while technically accurate, is such an egregious distortion of the evidence that one can only hope it is an interim statement, as some staff members suggest, not a final surrender.
The institute plans to address the issue at a conference on pregnancy and breast cancer in February. If the experts at the meeting agree that there is no link between abortion and breast cancer, the institute will have no excuse to suppress the information. It will have to issue a new fact sheet or admit it can no longer provide objective guidance on matters that inflame social conservatives.
Just because abortion may not lead to an increased risk of breast cancer doesn't make it ok. If you can't draw a link - let it go - it's just scare tactics and propaganda after that. If you want people to take you serious, then give them the facts and just the facts.
I don't think at this point it is a matter of being able to draw a link or not. The suspicion is valid, based on what I've read, and proving the link is still in its beginning stages. Besides that, there's considerable opposition to these studies and their implications. It'll take time either way, and dismissing it out of hand is unwise, imo.
I really don't think what anyone thinks or says over the internet is going to have any real effect on your future health, do you? The fact that you are acting so updity makes me think that you are not at peace with your decision. Why don't you get that settled before you start whinning to strangers. If you don't know if abortion is right, then how can you fault anyone for saying "mean words" that really will not change anything for you personally in the long run. Where is your sense of proportion? BTW, could you tell me why you thought it necessary to tell us about this incident in your past?
Also, most rational thinkers see a cause and effect in life in general. We, as a people take comfort in the knowledge that when we are a wronged by our fellow man, and that person is not called to account, that ultimate justice will somehow get its way on our behalf. I'm sure that most on this board see women as victims of the abortion industry that misleads people for profit while hissing at anyone who dares to contradict their mantras about "safe and available family planning" and it's refreshing to see that the tide is turning on this topic.
Hildy said: Isn't that Christian of you. I had an abortion when I was 20. Do I regret it? To be honest, I don't really know. Would you like to see me die a slow, painful death now?
Tom
What you said is worse than what he said...
Ummm...Think again...
Based on what I said... HE controls what happens to himself and his loved ones by what HE wishes on others.
Nice try. I've not given any clues as to where I stand on the subject of abortion in this thread. Only where I stand on the subject of disgusting assholes.
Take your weak baiting techniques and throw them into someone elses face.
Only if she disclosed it. Abortion clinic records aren't automatically added to other records. When a woman signs on with a new ob/gyn, for example, she is asked about prior pregnancies, births, miscarriages, abortions etc, but it is entirely up to her whether she is completely forthright. It's in her best interest to be, but I bet they're not all honest.
He said, and I paraphrase...
"God willing, abortion causes breast cancer."
I have no idea why you're defending this guy but it's making you look like a fool.
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