Dear Friends:

The Norwegian newspaper Dagen published an article, "Norwegian stories of cancer are used to hide the result of abortions."  The article addresses Swedish and Norwegian studies which have been used to dismiss the connection between abortion and breast cancer.  The author, Jostein Sandsmark, translated the article for English language readers.

Spread the word.

Sincerely,
Karen Malec
Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer
www.AbortionBreastCancer.com

ABORTION-BREAST CANCER NEWS HEADLINES

"Norwegian stories of cancer are used to hide the result of abortions"

The medical histories of 105 norwegian cancer patients are used to hide a possible connection between abortion and breast cancer.

By Jostein H. Sandsmark, Dagen
March 11, 2004

There has been a cover-up of the apparent connection between induced abortion and breast cancer in Norwegian women.

President Karen Malec of Coalition Abortion/Breast Cancer in the US has helped Dagen to disclose these conditions.

30 PER CENT HIGHER RISK

Women who have had an abortion have 30 % higher risk than others who develop breast cancer, American scientist Joel Brind has determined.

But in 1991 a Swedish group of scientists claimed that the risk increase was only 11 per cent. They were based on a study of 105 Norwegian and 317 Swedish women with breast cancer, and a control group of 90 healthy women.

The Swedes attributed the low risk to the following reason:

* An alleged flaw in the research - called "response bias" - in the investigation of a possible connection between abortion and breast cancer. Therefore many of the earlier studies reporting a connection should not be valid.

LIED ABOUT ABORTIONS?

* The hypothesis was that healthy women have a tendency not to report their abortions, as opposed to breast cancer patients. Therefore there should be so many studies where the scientists have found more patients with abortion histories than healthy women with such a background.

* Because of this the medical data journals were the only source of reliable information. Interviews with women was not to be trusted. In this way there was a posibility of avoiding "response bias".

On aftercheck of the material the Swedes found that seven sick and one healthy women who claimed to have had an abortion, according to the journals had NOT had an abortion. These 8 women then would have lied, or "overreported" their abortion history, claimed the scientists.

The scientist Joel Brind later authored a letter severely criticizing this Swedish-Norwegian study. He found it very difficult to believe that women would lie about an abortion they never had.

THE THEORY FELL APART

The Swedish group of scientists claimed then - seven years after presenting the study - that the 8 reported but not recorded (journals) abortions could have another explanation than "response bias". It could be that the abortions were done abroad or simply not recorded in their journals.

So their whole theory - that "response bias" was the reason for the evident connection between induced abortion and breast cancer - fell apart.

For those who still claim there is such a connection, the problem of "response bias" is still being used as an argument to deny a link:

Because of the Swedish-Norwegian article of 1991, the National Cancer Institute in USA, the American Cancer Society and other cancer organizations still claim that "response bias" is a problem in abortion-breastcancer-studies. This happened recently in Great Britain.

45 PER CENT HIGHER RISK

When scrutinizing the 1991 study, an apparent clear connection was revealed between induced abortion and breast cancer also in Norwegian women in the study:

* The higher risk for breast cancer is only 11 per cent, concluded the scientist, after adding the results of the Swedish and Norwegian women.

* However, by investigating the Norwegian results alone, the risk increase shows up to be 45 per cent. Forty-seven of the 105 Norwegian cancer patients had had an abortion before they were diagnosed with the disease.

If the Norwegian and Swedish results are checked after the part they have in the study, the risk increase is more than 30 percent, a little more than what Joel Brind has claimed all along.

@Credit:Dagen, Norway

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You can make a tax-deductible, online donation at www.AbortionBreastCancer.com or send your check to: the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer, P.O. Box 152, Palos Heights, IL 60463.  The IRS recognizes the coalition as a 501(c)3 organization.

The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer is an international women's organization founded to protect the health and save the lives of women by educating and providing information on abortion as a risk factor for breast cancer.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer
www.AbortionBreastCancer.com

Breast Cancer Prevention Institute
www.BCPInstitute.org

Polycarp Research Institute
www.Polycarp.org