MORE EVIDENCE
More evidence linking
abortion, breast cancer
Planned
Parenthood, other advocates deny any connection despite studies
By Julie Foster
© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
A new book sheds more
light on a possible link between abortion and various types of cancer, including
breast cancer -- a connection the abortion industry continues to deny.
Chris Kahlenborn, M.D.,
who began his research after attending a 1993 conference, spent 6 years
exploring a possible connection between abortion and breast cancer. The result
is his book, "Breast cancer: Its link to abortion and the birth control
pill," published by One More Soul.
"Based on six years
of study and a meticulous analysis of hundreds of scientific papers and other
sources, Dr. Kahlenborn examines and documents the effect that abortion and
hormonal contraception have on breast cancer, uterine, cervical, liver, and
other cancers, and the transmission of AIDS," states an Amazon.com
editorial review. "Hormonal contraceptive use before first full term
pregnancy is found to increase risk of breast cancer by at least 40 percent.
Special attention is given to black women and to various populations of the
world. Dr. Kahlenborn shows great skill in presenting this very technical
material in a way laypeople can absorb. A very timely and powerful work."
As
previously reported by WorldNetDaily, breast cancer is linked to
reproductive hormones, particularly estrogen. Although science has yet to define
specifically what causes breast cancer, it is uncontested that the sooner a
woman has her first child, the lower her risk of developing breast cancer.
According to Dr. Joel
Brind, a leading researcher in what is commonly known as the "ABC
link," a woman's estrogen level increases hundreds of times above normal
upon conceiving -- and one of the first physical changes to the pregnant woman's
body occurs in the breasts. That hormone surge leads to the growth of
"undifferentiated" cells in the breast as the body prepares to produce
milk for the coming baby. Undifferentiated cells are vulnerable to the effects
of carcinogens, which can give rise to cancerous tumors later in life.
In the final weeks of a
full-term pregnancy, those cells are "terminally differentiated"
through a still largely-unknown process and are ready to produce milk.
Differentiated cells are not vulnerable to carcinogens.
However, should a
pregnancy be terminated prior to cell differentiation, the woman is left with
abnormally high numbers of undifferentiated cells, therefore increasing her risk
of developing breast cancer.
The percentage of risk
increase is dependent on the age of a woman when she reaches puberty, when she
first conceives and the length of time the pregnancy progresses prior to induced
abortion. Most studies show a general increase in risk from 30 to 100 percent or
more.
Spontaneous abortions, or
miscarriages, are not generally associated with increased risk, according to
Brind, since they generally occur due to insufficient estrogen hormones to begin
with.
Most birth control pills
work by producing hormonal activity similar to that which occurs when conception
takes place, thereby making it a suspicious agent in ABC link research.
According to Kahlenborn,
"Based on the most comprehensive medical evidence available, induced
abortion and the birth control pill are both independent risk factors for the
development of breast cancer. The risk is especially great if the woman has
participated in either of these factors at a young age."
Kahlenborn's research
indicates the following:
·
A woman who has an abortion prior to her first full-term pregnancy
can have at least a 50 percent increased risk of developing breast cancer.
Despite convincing
evidence of the dangers of breast cancer from abortions and contraceptive use,
the lucrative abortion industry continues to deny a link exists. Attacking the
credibility of studies conducted by Brind and others, the abortion lobby claims
there is no consensus in the scientific community on the subject, and so its
patients are told they are not at risk.
"The Planned
Parenthood position is that abortion poses no demonstrated health risks,"
says Nancy L. Sasaki, president of Planned
Parenthood Los Angeles. "The link between induced abortion and breast
cancer is a theory whose principal promoters oppose abortion regardless of its
safety. The theory has not been borne out by research. While Planned Parenthood
believes that women should have access to information about all factors that
influence the risk of disease, PPLA also believes that women deserve information
that is medically substantiated and untainted by a political agenda. Because the
research community has not reached a consensus on breast cancer and abortion,
Planned Parenthood advises women who are considering terminating a pregnancy
that there is no currently demonstrated health risk from abortion that would
warrant basing a decision on that factor alone."
But anti-abortion groups
say it is the abortion lobby's own political agenda that keeps it from
acknowledging the likelihood of an ABC link.
"Groups like Planned
Parenthood are rightfully fearful that the breast cancer-abortion-contraceptive
link could harm their grisly business. These organizations are apparently so
radically committed to protecting the 'right' of women to dispose of their
unwanted children, that they are also willing to allow these same women to
remain ignorant of the likelihood of developing breast cancer," wrote Rev.
Louis P. Sheldon of the Traditional
Values Coalition.
In an editorial, Sheldon
asserts, "If women and teenage girls read "Breast Cancer: Its Link to
Abortion and the Birth Control Pill," they might be less likely to choose
to kill their unborn children or to engage in promiscuous sex by using an oral
contraceptive. But, of course, as long as Planned Parenthood and other powerful
abortion lobbies have their way, the killing of unborn children will remain
legal, and teens will continue to be encouraged to have premarital sex. After
all, when your multi-million dollar business is based on the aborting of babies
and the selling of contraceptives, why let a small issue like breast cancer
threaten your market share?"
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Related story: Abortion-cancer
link goes to court
Julie
Foster is a staff reporter for WorldNetDaily.com