Breast cancer and abortion: the facts

The Age ^ | February 17 2003 | Dr Angela Lanfranchi

[toenail]

Breast cancer and abortion: the facts

February 17 2003

When I first heard of the link between abortion and breast cancer, in 1993, I thought it was a pro-life fantasy. "That's crazy," was my initial response. However, out of curiosity I changed the history form I used in my work as a breast surgeon, asking each woman the order and outcome of all pregnancies. The results surprised me.

In the first six months I had two patients in their 30s with breast cancer; one had had seven pregnancies and six abortions, the other five pregnancies and three abortions. I continued to see more and more young women with a history of abortion, developing breast cancer. Of course, I may have been witnessing a statistical fluke.

But then, in 1996, City University of New York Professor Joel Brind published his meta-analysis, which revealed 23 of 28 studies showing a link between abortion and breast cancer. The uproar that study caused in Britain, where it was published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, prompted the editor to write: "I believe that if you take a view (as I do) which is pro-choice, you need at the same time to have a view which might be called pro-information without excessive paternalistic censorship (or interpretation) of the data."

Paternalistic censorship is what I experience every time I try to speak on the science supporting the abortion-breast cancer link.

About 85 per cent of cigarette smokers do not get lung cancer. Doctors who tell their patients of the risk of lung cancer are not labelled fear-mongers. Similarly, not all women who have had an abortion will get breast cancer; only 5 per cent will develop the disease. And 95 per cent of breast cancer patients will not have a history of abortion. But some women are at especially high risk. And 5 per cent still adds up to a lot of women.

The 1994 Daling study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute showed that teenagers younger than 18 who had abortions between nine and 24 weeks had nearly a 30 per cent chance of getting breast cancer in their lifetimes. The US National Cancer Institute's web page on reproductive risk informs women there are studies that show this link.

Many people ask me about first trimester miscarriage. This is quite different, in its effect on the woman's breasts, from induced abortion of a normal pregnancy. Miscarriages do not increase breast cancer risk, since they are associated with low oestrogen levels that do not cause breast growth. However, when pregnancy is terminated before the breast cells reach full maturity, a woman is left with more immature type 1 and 2 breast lobules (milk glands) than before her pregnancy started, and therefore is at increased risk. Her breasts never mature to type 3 and 4 lobules, which would have occurred in the third trimester and would have lowered her risk.

Ideology should not prevent the dissemination of this information. Australia's breast cancer organisations are not helping women exercise informed consent when they deny them this knowledge. There are three legal actions in the US by women who were not told of the link before having an abortion.

As Dr Janet Daling, who identifies herself as being pro-choice, says: "If politics gets involved in science, it will really hold back the progress we make. I have three sisters with breast cancer, and I resent people messing with the scientific data to further their own agenda, be they pro-choice or pro-life. I would have loved to have found no association between breast cancer and abortion, but our research is rock solid, and our data is accurate. It's not a matter of believing. It's a matter of what is."

Information only empowers women to make informed choices. Women who choose abortions need to be aware that they are at higher risk, so they will have mammograms earlier and more regularly. Cancers found on mammograms are more likely to be stage 1 and curable. No woman should die of breast cancer because she was not warned.

I watched my mother die of metastatic breast cancer. In my practice, I see young women with small children die of breast cancer. If the information I give patients can prevent a single death from a completely avoidable risk, I will gladly pay the price of being labelled a fear-monger.

Dr Angela Lanfranchi is a breast cancer surgeon, a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and clinical assistant professor of surgery at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey. She is on a speaking tour of Australia, which is sponsored by, among others, several pro-life organisations.

This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/02/16/1045330466585.html

[nickcarraway]

Yes. And HRT and things like that. Black and Hispanic women in in Marin County don't have the same rates of breast cancer. That, and the fact that men, don't have some kind of matching cancer rate seems to rule out power lines etc.

[LPStar]

Many people ask me about first trimester miscarriage. This is quite different, in its effect on the woman's breasts, from induced abortion of a normal pregnancy. Miscarriages do not increase breast cancer risk, since they are associated with low oestrogen levels that do not cause breast growth. Some first-trimester miscarriages are associated with low estrogen levels, but not all. In general, though, I suspect the surgeon is correct in her thesis.

[LWalk18]

Black and Hispanic women in in Marin County don't have the same rates of breast cancer.

Hispanic and especially black woman have much higher abortion rate than whites; their rate of breast cancer should be higher if abortion is the cause.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Toenail, thank you for being ever vigilant with these threads.

Star, thanks for the ping.

BTTT for all the babies and their moms.

[toenail]

a bump for news.google.com

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Good post. Thank you.

Did you ever call a breast cancer foundation, usually a pro-choice feminist fundraiser, and ask whether they warn young women about the breast cancer-abortion connection, or if they are working on a PR campaign to warn potential young victims? They pretend they don't know. I ask them how they can be involved in preventing and curing breast cancer without doing basic research.

"Breast cancer" along with racism and the environment have become big businesses and none of them ever celebrate progress or good news. On the contrary, they get angry. For a doctor NOT to warn a young pregnant woman from a family with a history of breast cancer her highly increased risks of breast cancer if she chooses abortion is medical malpractice. Busted (no pun intended).

Oh, that Danish study has been de-bunked, yet it's trotted out by abortion supporters as proof, reason to deny the other 23 out of 28 studies which show a definite connection. These pro-abortionists would rather have young women die then tell the truth and risk the inevitable outrage and repercussions over this cover-up.

[Nov3]

Hispanic and especially black woman have much higher abortion rate than whites; their rate of breast cancer should be higher if abortion is the cause.

I would have to see the data. My wife worked in the same high rise as the "planned parenthood" clinic here in Memphis where the population is 60+ black. She saw very few blacks seeking abortion. Mainly young white girls.

[Scupoli]

Now they do since MediCal/Medicaid covers it. In the early days of legalized abortion white women with money were the ones who could afford an abortion, not minority women. Poor minority women did not get breast cancer at the same rate as whites until the government started funding it. This sentence is also specific to the population of Marin County, not nationwide. Blacks and Hispanics could have similar rates there to the national average or not. The point is, the wealthy white liberal female population is more concentrated there than most places. Their rates are above the national average. There is a correlation.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Miscarriages do not increase breast cancer risk, since they are associated with low oestrogen levels that do not cause breast growth

Junk science alert!

First, most miscarriages are caused by a genetic defect in the fetus, not by low estrogen levels in the mother.

Second, estrogen levels (higher) are the number one correlative factor for breast cancer. Makes no difference what the cause is -- weighing a few extra pounds raises a woman's estrogen level and thus raises her breast cancer risk. So obviously, young women whose natural miscarriages were caused by abnormally low estrogen levels would not show any increased risk of breast cancer -- nor would they have shown an increased risk if their pregnancies had been terminated by abortion.

[GovernmentShrinker]

She hadn't heard it because no such link has been established by legitimate researchers. You are doing your friend no favor by scaring her with junk science. Tell her to tell her daughter to keep her weight down and have regular mammograms.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Do the counselors at pro-life crisis pregnancy centers make sure to warn all their clients that permanent weight gain statistically usually follows childbirth, and that they should be especially vigilant in avoiding this, as ALL researchers on the subject agree that it increases estrogen levels and the risk of breast cancer?

[LWalk18]

Second, estrogen levels (higher) are the number one correlative factor for breast cancer. Makes no difference what the cause is -- weighing a few extra pounds raises a woman's estrogen level and thus raises her breast cancer risk. So obviously, young women whose natural miscarriages were caused by abnormally low estrogen levels would not show any increased risk of breast cancer -- nor would they have shown an increased risk if their pregnancies had been terminated by abortion.

I agree, also the number of periods a woman has during her lifetime also plays a role...I bet the average woman in Marin delays marriage and childbirth until her 30's and beyond if at all. Most women in that lifestyle only have one child, two at the most. Abortion may well be a factor, but it must be isolated from other possible causes.

[nickcarraway]

Rates of breast cancer are higher in black woman than white women in most the country, but not Marin. I'm not sure if Hispanic woman have higher rates of either.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Poor minority women did not get breast cancer at the same rate as whites until the government started funding it.

Poor minority women also didn't get as fat as white women until the government starting paying for their food, which was around the same time it started paying for everything else. More fat = higher estrogen levels = more breast cancer.

[LWalk18]

Rates of breast cancer are higher in black woman than white women in most the country, but not Marin. I'm not sure if Hispanic woman have higher rates of either.

Are you sure if it is the breast cancer rate or a higher rate of death from breast cancer? I had read just two days ago in a magazine that while white women were more likely to get breast cancer, black women were more likely to die from breast cancer. I don't know what the rates for Hispanic women are, it would be interesting to find out.

Even though I am not convinced of the abortion-breast cancer link yet, I think discussion is useful and should be brought to light.

[capitan_refugio]

You are correct; there is most definately "an agenda" behind this article. The author is interested in saving women's lives.

[GovernmentShrinker]

The number of periods directly correlates to lifetime estrogen exposure. Estrogen levels are naturally lower pre-menarche, post-menopause, and during pregnancies. Really, apart from a known genetic factor which predisposes some women to breast cancer, estrogen is the only established causative variable. All studies claiming to find some other factor need to rigorously control for that one -- something not seen in any of the studies purporting to correlate abortion and breast cancer.

Abortion at a young age (which is where most of these studies claim to find some correlation) is more common among girls who are undisciplined, lack impulse control, etc. -- i.e. the same group of girls that is more likely find themsleves pregnant when they didn't mean to be. But so is excessive weight throughout their adult lives, as well as other estrogen, weight, and cancer related factors, like getting regular exercise and eating a healthy diet.

Also, I would assume that pregnancies at a young age are more common among girls who reached puberty early, as they would be more likely to become sexually active at an early age; these girls would already have some elevated risk for breast cancer, due to early puberty.

[Scupoli]

More fat = higher estrogen levels = more breast cancer.

Theoretically that may work but this link has been studied ad nauseum. The researchers came up empty. It's been debunked.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

I assume the family doctor discusses all risks, but the general risks associated with increased weight, are not the same as the specific increased risks of breast cancer brought on by a first time pregnancy abortion in a young woman from a family with a history of breast cancer.

[LWalk18]

I agree with you, also early puberty is tied to weight gain; as girls are getting heavier the age of menarche has dropped.