Dear Friends:

Canadian researcher Brent Rooney, director of the Vancouver-based Reduce Preterm Risk Coalition, reports in his article that teenagers, especially African American teens, fall into a high risk group for breast cancer and a future premature birth if they have abortions. This is due to the immaturity of their organs.

Rooney cited epidemiological evidence, a 1994 study by Janet Daling et al., to support his argument on the breast cancer risk. Epidemiological evidence reveals whether or not there is a correlation between a particular exposure (in this case, abortion) and a disease (breast cancer).

However, readers of our e-newsletter know the biological reason for this phenomenon.  Childless teenagers only have primitive, cancer-vulnerable Types 1 and 2 breast lobules, otherwise known as terminal ductal lobular units (TDLU's).  Scientists say that cancers develop in TDLU's. The most cancer-vulnerable time in a woman's life occurs during the period between the onset of menstruation (when breast lobules are overexposed to estrogen with each monthly menstrual cycle) and the birth of a first child.

When teens are overexposed to estrogen - whether it's due to use of oral contraceptives or the procurement of an abortion - the exposure to this carcinogen takes place during the most carcinogenic time in their lives.  During a normal pregnancy (not most miscarriages), estrogen does two things.   It initiates cancer by directly damaging DNA, and it stimulates the multiplication of breast lobules.

A third trimester process protects women from estrogen overexposure.  It shuts off breast cell multiplication and matures the breast tissue into cancer-resistant, milk-producing Types 3 and 4 lobules.

Women who carry their pregnancies to term are left with more cancer-resistant lobules than they had before their pregnancies began. This explains why women with larger families and women, who start their families at a younger age, have a lower lifetime risk for the disease.

Women who have abortions not only miss out on that third trimester protective process, but they also are left with an increased number of cancer vulnerable Types 1 and 2 breast lobules.

If doctors want to adequately screen women for breast cancer, they must revise their patient intake forms.  This will benefit doctors because it will reduce the number of medical malpractice lawsuits claiming failure to diagnose breast cancer or failure to diagnose it early.  Doctors need to ask patients about their abortion histories, the timing of their abortions (i.e., before or after first full term pregnancy, age at time of abortion, number of abortions) and family history of the disease.

Rooney offers two links to medical journal articles on the abortion-premature birth link that he has authored.  The first web address is linked to a paper in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons in which he and his colleagues reviewed research on this link that has accumulated since 1963.

The second web address is a letter to the editor of that journal on the topic of "Informed Consent for Abortion."  In his letter, Rooney discusses warnings from Texas and Michigan state health departments on the risk of premature birth due to abortion.  He also reports that the Communist Hungarian government recognized the abortion-premature birth connection and, as a result, restricted access to abortion in the 1970's.

Action Item: Save the life of a teen. Spread the word to your family, your friends and your doctor.  Doctors can check our "Dear Doctor" letter on our website for references and images of Types 1, 2 and 3 lobules.

Sincerely,
Karen Malec
Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer

ABORTION-BREAST CANCER NEWS HEADLINES

"Teen Abortions More Than Double Breast Cancer Risk / There is also a 'preemie' risk"
By Brent Rooney
Reduce Preterm Risk Coalition
Vancouver, Canada
August, 2005

     In 1994 Dr. Janet Daling (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center) et al. reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that women who had induced abortions before age 18 multiplied their risk of breast cancer by 2.5 . (1)  This 150% boost in relative breast cancer risk for under age 18 abortions is triple the overall risk increase of 50% for women in general in the 'Daling' study in Washington state. (1)

     In 2003 the overwhelming evidence for the prematurity risk of prior induced abortions was presented in two review articles published in peer-reviewed medical journals. (2,3) Teenage SIAs (Surgical Induced Abortions) produce an even greater risk of subsequent premature births, since such procedures have a greater than normal risk of infection and weakened cervix. (4,5,6,7). Teen U.S. women are 2 1/2 times as likely as women over 19 to have second trimester abortions; such procedures are a significant risk for a very weakened cervix. (8)  Black American women have triple the rate of elective abortions as Caucasian women. (9) Thus, the most disparate impact of future prematurity risk lies with black American teenagers.

................................................................
Brent Rooney
Reduce Preterm Risk Coalition

email: stopcancer@yahoo.com
web:   www.jpands.org/vol8no2/rooney.pdf
          www.jpands.org/vol9no3/correspondence.pdf


References

1 Risk of Breast Cancer Among Young Women: Relationship of Induced Abortion, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, J Daling, et al., 1994;86;1584-1592

2 Thorp JM Jr. Hartmann KE. Shadigian E. Long-term physical and psychological health consequences of induced abortion: review of the evidence. Obstet & Gynecol Survey 2003;58(1):67-79.

3 Rooney B, Calhoun BC. Induced abortion and risk of later premature births. J Amer Physicians and Surgeons 2003;8(2):46-49.
   [ URL: www.jpands.org/vol8no2/rooney.pdf ]

4 Burkman RT, et. al., "Morbidity Risk Among Young Adolescents Undergoing Elective Abortion," Contraception.  1984;30(2):99-

5 Schulz KF, et. al., "Measures to Prevent Cervical Injury During Suction Curettage Abortion," The Lancet  1993 (28 May):1182-1184

6 Burkman RT, et. al., "Culture and treatment results in endometritis following elective abortion," American J. Obstet. & Gynecol. 1997;128:556-

7 Avonts D, Piot P, "Genital infections in women undergoing induced abortion," European J. Obstet. & Gynecol. & Reproductive Biology  1985;20:53-

8 Strahan T, "Psycho-Social Aspects of Late-Term Abortions," Assoc. For Interdisciplinary Research Bulletin.  2000;14(4):1-

9 Jones RK, Darroch JE, Henshaw S.  Patterns in the Socioeconomic Characteristics of Women Obtaining Abortions in 2000-2001. Perspective on Sexual and Reproductive Health  2003 (September-October);34(5):226-235


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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.

Tax-deductible, credit card donations can be made at www.AbortionBreastCancer.com. Donations can be mailed to: the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer, P.O. Box 957133, Hoffman Estates, IL 60195. The IRS recognizes the coalition as a 501(c)3 organization.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer
www.AbortionBreastCancer.com

Breast Cancer Prevention Institute
www.BCPInstitute.org

Polycarp Research Institute
www.polycarp.org