Delinking Abortion and Breast Cancer

NYTimes ^ | March 11, 2003 | editorial

[RJCogburn]

A crude effort by anti-abortion groups and their supporters in Congress to associate abortion with an increased risk of breast cancer can now be stopped in its tracks. A definitive scientific judgment has been rendered on this overheated issue. The best minds that could be assembled by the National Cancer Institute have determined unequivocally that no such link exists. The epidemiological evidence to support this conclusion is considered "well established," the highest of four categories of proof in the government's rankings of strength of evidence.

Anti-abortion groups have used the allegation of a link in campaigns intended to frighten women away from having abortions. Last year they gained political support when 28 members of Congress sent a letter to Tommy Thompson, secretary of health and human services. The letter charged that a government fact sheet was "inaccurate and misleading" when it said that women who had abortions had the same risk of breast cancer as other women.

Ducking for cover, the cancer institute removed the fact sheet from its Web page and convened a workshop and two expert panels to re-evaluate the evidence, along with other reproductive issues. These experts have now concluded that earlier studies — some of which found a link between abortion and breast cancer and some of which didn't — had serious flaws that made their findings unpersuasive. That should blow away much of the evidence brandished by the anti-abortion groups. The best and most recent studies, the experts concluded, show no association between abortions and breast cancer.

The cancer institute is now working on a revised version of its fact sheet. If science prevails, the new version should provide an antidote to the scaremongering by anti-abortion groups.

[RJCogburn]

Science, done correctly, is impartial, going in whatever direction the data lead. Too bad some on both sides have pursued an agenda rather than objective data.

[goldstategop]

Yeah... course if the science had gone the other way you could expect the New York Slimes to condemn it as the work of anti-choice ideologues.

[Seeking the truth]

Was this "working group" the same group that provided epidemiological imput for the EPA second hand smoke fraud?

[TaxRelief]

Amazing how reclassifying lots of studies from meaningful to inconculsive can be twisted, as the NYT editor has done, to mean there is no link between breast cancer and abortion. By the way, what do we know about this panel of experts?

[backhoe]

First page of search returns:

WEB RESULTS by    (Showing Results 1 - 10 of 53,166)

1. Abortion - Breast Cancer Link -- Dr. Joel Brind Ph. D.
We live in a society that refuses to recognize the link between breast cancer and abortion. I have endeavored to present and provide the scientific facts that clearly link breast cancer to abortion....
http://www.abortioncancer.com/ - August 29, 2000 - 6 KB

2. Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer
We are a women's organization whose purpose is to protect the health and save the lives of women by educating and providing information on abortion as a risk factor for breast cancer. ... significant...
http://www.abortionbreastcancer.com/ - February 28, 2003 - 12 KB

3. WorldNetDaily: Abortion-breast cancer link still ignored
... 35 studies published since 1957 have linked abortion with breast cancer, pro-abortion groups such as Planned Parenthood ...
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=23506 - January 25, 2003 - 25 KB

4. Abortion - Breast Cancer Information
Abortion - Breast Cancer Information "WOMEN HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW" 28 out of 37 studies show a link between abortion and breast cancer.
http://www.akrtl.org/b_cancer.htm - May 6, 2002 - 3 KB

5. First Case Settled Linking Abortion to Breast Cancer
... with an abortionist she had sued for not telling her about research findings linking abortion to breast cancer. ...
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/1/4/172317.shtml - February 12, 2003 - 32 KB

6. WorldNetDaily: Abortion-cancer link goes on trial
... was taken from a 1996 NCI "fact sheet" on "Abortion and Breast Cancer.". But the NCI had revised its "fact sheet" ...
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26937 - January 23, 2003 - 35 KB

7. CNN - Experts divided over abortion, breast cancer link - Oct. 11,...
Experts divided over abortion, breast cancer link October 11, 1996 Web posted at: 9:10 p.m. In this story
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9610/11/nfm - July 22, 2002 - 11 KB

8. Abortion, Breast Cancer, and Ideology
... of Medicinehad spoken on the question of abortion and breast cancer. A supposedly definitive study from Denmark, ...
http://www.leaderu.com/ftissues/ft9705/opinion/brind.html - January 17, 2003 - 21 KB

9. The Deadly After-Effect of Abortion: Breast Cancer
THE DEADLY AFTER-EFFECT OF ABORTION: BREAST CANCER A first pregnancy permanently changes the structure of a woman's breasts. Before she is pregnant, her breasts cannot produce milk, as the gland cells are immature and underdeveloped.
http://www.prolifeinfo.org/upl2.html - January 5, 2002 - 10 KB

10. Kindley, John JD
Read an article positing that abortion poses a breast-cancer risk and discussing his involvement in a lawsuit against an abortion provider. ... the Scientific Evidence Linking Induced Abortion with...
http://www.johnkindley.com/ - September 27, 2002 - 9 KB

[scan58]

"The Destroyer" bump.

[savedbygrace]

Your link #8 to the Joel Brind piece is interesting. It seems to be responding to the charge that there are no reliable studies proving correlation.

I haven't been following this closely enough to add anything worthwhile, but I'm sure Sandra will reply soon. She has definitely been on top on this.

[alisasny]

But I am supposed to believe totally in passive smoke cancer risks and global warming as well is going to kill us all with no evidence .

Anything to keep abortion legal including distortion is the game here and sadly they are still successful in it.

[Robert A Cook PE]

The "science" here WAS twisted and distorted during the fake "review" - as abortion supporters refused to take evidence of the high breast cancer link, of studies they didn't like, and refused (during the meeting) to allow link to be debated. Instead, they demanded the report be written claiming there was no link.

The NY Times is simply lying.

As usual.