A review published in the journal “Cancer Causes and Control” confirms a strong link between abortion and breast cancer. A darn strong link to boot too. In fact, the report shows that the risk of developing breast cancer among women who had at least one induced abortion was increased by 44%.
Joel Brind, Ph.D., a Professor of Human Biology and Endocrinology at Baruch College, City University of New York and co-founder of the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute, wrote an excellent piece for National Right to Life News and said that this study comes on the heels of studies coming out of India confirming the link.
Brind called the Chinese analysis “a real game changer.”
1. The link is a slightly stronger one, i.e., 44% v. 30% risk increase with abortion;
2. It shows what is called a “dose effect”, i.e., two abortions increase the risk more than one abortion (76% risk increase with two or more abortions), and three abortions increase the risk even more (89% risk increase with three or more abortions). Risk factors that show such a dose effect have more credibility. Although previous studies of the ABC link were a bit more heterogeneous and the dose effect less clear, it has been shown that the risk increase is greater the longer the pregnancy continues before abortion. Hence, an 18-week abortion increases the risk more than a 12-week abortion, and a 12-week abortion increases the risk more than an 8-week abortion.
3. In their new meta-analysis Huang et al. put to rest the main argument used to discredit the ABC link, variously called the “response bias” or “recall bias” or “reporting bias” argument. The argument goes like this. Due to social stigma that is attached to having an induced abortion, healthy women are more likely to deny prior abortions in their medical history study questionnaire than are women who’ve developed breast cancer. Hence, the argument goes, it would erroneously appear that abortion is more frequent among women who’ve had an abortion.
Huang et al. dispatch of this canard. They explain, “The lack of a social stigma associated with induced abortion in China may limit the amount of underreporting and present a more accurate picture of this (abortion-breast cancer) association.” (This invokes an argument—the absence of social stigma– used by authors in an earlier Chinese study that did not find an ABC link.)
4. Huang et al. then proceed to explain why two earlier high-profile studies in Shanghai (including the one noted above) did not find the link. They do so essentially by citing and pursuing the argument I articulated in the “British Journal of Cancer” in 2004, and more importantly, proving the point by performing a “meta-regression” of all the Chinese data.
Of course, this has been ignored entirely by the media.
I ran a search and it seems that so far only Townhall, National Right to Life News, American Thinker, LifeNews, and Lifesite News have thought it important enough to report.
If anything in the world other than abortion was found to have caused cancer in such alarming numbers, the media would’ve reported it. The media is constantly accusing those on the right of waging a war on women. But a study comes out saying abortion drastically increases a woman’s chance of breast cancer and…nothing. This is because to many abortion supporters , the right to abortion trumps the safety of women. (See: Gosnell.)
Ideology trumps individuals. Every. Time.
Check out NRL News for more info.
