What?
(From the website of the National Cancer Institute.
Posted 11/25/02)
"Specifically, the possible relationship
between abortion and breast cancer has been examined in over thirty
published studies since 1957. Some studies have reported
statistically significant evidence of an increased risk of breast
cancer in women who have had abortions, while others have merely
suggested an increased risk."
Link
to website
Last year, the Journal of the National Cancer
Institute published a report revealing that since the mid-1980's, breast cancer rates skyrocketed more
than 40%. The increase
occurred entirely among women who would have been under age 40 when abortion was
legalized in 1973, not among
older women. The National Cancer Institute doesn't explain the
disparity between age groups. [Howe et al. (June 6, 2001) JNCI, Vol. 93. No. 11.]
In 1996, Professor Joel Brind of Baruch College in New York and his colleagues at Pennsylvania State Medical College conducted a review and meta-analysis of the studies. A meta-analysis pools together the data from the studies in an area of medicine - in this case, the abortion-breast cancer research - and comes up with an overall risk for a particular risk factor. The Brind team, half of whom included abortion supporters, found an overall 30% elevated risk among women choosing abortion after first full term pregnancy (FFTP) and a 50% elevated risk among women choosing abortion before FFTP. [Brind, et al. Jrnl of Epidemiol Community Health (1996);50:481-96]
On March 13, 2000 the U.K.'s Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists became the first medical organization to warn its abortion practitioners, saying that Dr. Brind's review was methodologically sound and that the abortion-breast cancer research "could not be disregarded." [“Evidence-based Guideline No. 7: The Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion” (2000) RCOG Press, p. 29-30]
