Dear Friends:
First,
an explanation is in order. Our readers may find the term,
"pregnancy-associated breast cancer," confusing because childbearing is
known to have a protective effect against breast cancer. Medical texts
have long acknowledged that a first full term pregnancy (FFTP),
especially an early FFTP before age 24, substantially decreases
the
long-term risk of breast cancer. The younger the woman is when she has
her FFTP, the lower her breast cancer risk is. Having an early FFTP
before age 24 is the single most important thing a woman can do to
reduce her breast cancer risk.
The biological reason
for the protective effect of childbearing is simple. Nearly all of the
childless woman's breast lobules are cancer-susceptible Type 1 and 2
lobules where 97% of all breast cancers are known to arise. An increase
in estrogen (a cancer-causing hormone) stimulates considerable breast
growth by causing the lobules to multiply, so in the first months of a normal pregnancy, she grows
more places in her breasts for cancers to start.
In
the last months of full term pregnancy, a protective process called
"differentiation" takes place. Most of the lobules mature into fully
cancer-resistant Type 4 lobules containing colostrum. By the end of
FFTP, 85% of her breast lobules are permanently matured into
cancer-resistant lobules (15% remain cancer-susceptible). She doesn't
acquire a sufficient number of mature, cancer-resistant lobules for her
breast cancer risk to take a plunge until after 32 weeks gestation. The
closer she gets to delivery at 40 weeks gestation, the more
cancer-resistant lobules she acquires. Each subsequent full term
pregnancy reduces risk by an additional 10%, and she gains more
cancer-resistant lobules.
Conversely,
experts agree that the older a woman is when she has her FFTP, the
greater her breast cancer risk is. The biological reason is that her
cancer-susceptible Type 1 and 2 breast lobules are exposed to increased
levels of estrogen during every menstrual cycle, especially immediately
before ovulation. The more menstrual cycles she has during her
reproductive life (especially before FFTP when nearly all of her
lobules are cancer-susceptible), the more estrogen she's exposed to,
and the greater her breast cancer risk is.
For
women who delay a FFTP until after age 25, there is a slight,
short-term risk of breast cancer that disappears within 15 years after
childbirth. In its booklet, "Breast
Cancer Risks and Prevention," the Breast Cancer Prevention
Institute explains the risk in this way:
"A
woman may become pregnant after a cancer cell has already formed in her
breast. That cancer cell may have been dormant for many years and not
growing. Early in pregnancy, soon after conception, and even before
implantation, estrogen levels rise. This increased estrogen level may
stimulate the dormant cancer cell to grow until there is a clinically
detectable cancer. This accounts for the slight and temporary increase
in the risk of breast cancer in the post-partum woman over 25 years
old. However, overall, the long term effect of pregnancy is reduction
of breast cancer risk in the mother, regardless of her age when
pregnant.
"If
a woman does develop breast cancer while she is pregnant, her greatest
chance for survival is if she is able to carry the pregnancy to full
term. HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin), which is elevated during
pregnancy, causes the ovary to produce a turmor suppressing protein
called inhibin. HCG is also known to cause breast cancers to regress.
In studies of women with breast cancer occurring during pregnancy, the
only long-term survivors were women who did not undergo an induced
abortion, but instead, gave birth or had a miscarriage. Breast cancer
may be treated without harm to the baby, even when the mother is given
chemotherapy after the first 8 weeks of pregnancy."
Our opponents
attempt to confuse the public about the abortion-breast cancer link by
pointing to a transient increase in risk associated with childbirth.
Yet they fail to inform women that the risk exists only for those who
delay FFTP until after age 25 and that the long-term risk of breast
cancer for women with any children is lower than it is for childless
women.
The abortion industry is in the
business of delaying FFTP. It has a legal obligation to warn women
about the recognized risk of delaying FFTP and that abortion will also
leave their breasts with more places for cancers to start. Yet, the
abortion industry chooses to withhold that life-saving information from
women. Abortion has never
been about women's health or women's choice. It's about the abortion
industry's choice and its insatiable greed.
Read Brent Rooney's letter by clicking
on the
link
or
image
below.
Sincerely,
Karen Malec
Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer
ABORTION-BREAST CANCER NEWS HEADLINES
Letter By Brent Rooney
Israeli
Medical Association Journal
___________________________________________________
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.
Click here
to
make tax-deductible, credit card donations. Donations can be mailed to:
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
Breast Cancer
Prevention Institute
Polycarp Research
Institute
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