Letter to the Editor
Time Magazine

Re: "The Grassroots Abortion War,"
by Nancy Gibbs,
Feb. 15, 2007

Dear editors:

In her article, "The Grassroots Abortion War" (2/15/07), Nancy Gibbs said that the U.S. National Cancer Institute's workshop in 2003 on the abortion-breast cancer link concluded that "induced abortion is not associated with an increase in breast cancer risk."

If Gibbs will read the workshop's Summary Report, she'll find that it acknowledges one of two breast cancer risks associated with abortion. It says that increased childbearing, starting at an early age, and increased duration of breastfeeding reduce risk. 

Childbearing provides the only means for a woman to mature her breast tissue from cancer-vulnerable tissue into cancer-resistant tissue.  The earlier she has her first full term pregnancy, the sooner she transforms her breasts into cancer-resistant tissue.  The more children she has, the more cancer-resistant tissue she acquires. 

If childbearing protects women from the disease, then it's undebateable that:

1) Breast cancer rates will increase in any society where abortion becomes prevalent; and

2) The young woman who has an abortion has a greater breast cancer risk than does the young woman who has a baby.

Like most experts, the agency's bureaucrats lacked the intellectual honesty and political courage to admit that abortion results in the loss of the protective effect of childbearing.  The truth comes out, however, when they testify under oath, as in the case of an expert witness for the Center for Reproductive Rights, Dr. Lynn Rosenberg.  In a 1999 Florida lawsuit, she agreed with point #2 above.

The only remaining cancer risk that scientists still debate is whether abortion leaves women with an increase in cancer-vulnerable breast tissue.

Only a totalitarian state arrogates to itself the right to withhold lifesaving information from its people.  In true democracies, journalists don't give a nod and a wink to government cover-ups.  They behave like government watchdogs.

Sincerely,
Karen Malec
Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer
P.O. Box 957133, Hoffman Estates, IL 60195
www.AbortionBreastCancer.com
response@abortionbreastcancer.com
1-877-803-0102 (toll free)