Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer
P.O. Box 957133, Hoffman Estates, IL 60195
response@abortionbreastcancer.com
www.AbortionBreastCancer.com
1-877-803-0102

Press Release
Contact: Karen Malec
Date: September 22, 2005

Redbook, Breastcancer.org Mislead Women about Abortion-Cancer Link, says Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer

"Last month, Glamour Magazine disinformed its readers about the abortion-breast cancer (ABC) link," said Karen Malec, president of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer. "This month, it's Redbook, and it's Redbook's second attempt to erase the link from the public mind." [1,2,3]

Redbook's October issue includes an interview with Marissa Weiss, MD, founder of the cancer fundraising business, breastcancer.org.  She said, "Two recent research reviews have found that abortion doesn't alter hormone levels in a way that could increase breast cancer risk, as some activists have claimed."

Calling Weiss' statement "sheer nonsense," Professor Joel Brind (Baruch College) said scientists agree that the woman who has an abortion has a greater risk than does the woman who has a baby. She misses the third trimester process that protects her from estrogen overexposure and matures her breast tissue into cancer resistant tissue. Scientists debate whether her risk is greater than what it would have been if she'd never had that pregnancy.  He explained:

"I do not know of any reviews--recent or otherwise--which have ever made such a ridiculous claim. Of course abortion alters hormone levels in a way that could increase breast cancer risk: it terminates the pregnancy! That means it terminates all the hormonal changes that occur with pregnancy, including those which cause breast maturation and decrease breast cancer risk. This is indisputable. What is in dispute is whether or not the changes induced by the pregnancy up until the time of abortion, i.e., the stimulation of rapid growth of breast tissue, is strong enough and long-lasting enough to increase the risk of breast cancer beyond what it would have been in the absence of pregnancy at all. The overwhelming majority of valid epidemiological evidence says it does."

Angela Lanfranchi, MD (Associate Professor of Surgery, Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center) agreed that Weiss' statement revealed a misunderstanding of the biological reason for the link.

Weiss denied that the Pill increases risk, but the World Health Organization acknowledged that combined oral contraceptives are "carcinogenic to humans." [4] These findings support an ABC link.

"Any doctor that denies the ABC link is either lying or is uninformed," declared Malec.  "These repeated attempts to mislead women about the research are despicable.  The individuals who've participated in this cover-up are directly responsible for cancer deaths."

Malec asked activists to contact Redbook (Redbook@hearst.com) and demand a retraction and a published acknowledgement of the medical groups that recognize the ABC link. [5]

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.

References:

1. Susan Dominus, "The mysterious disappearance of young pro-choice women," Glamour Magazine, August 2005, p. 200-19.

2. Janis Graham, "Eight breast cancer myths you shouldn't believe...and the facts that could save your life," Redbook, October 2005, p. 79-80.

3. Nancy Monson, "Seven cancer facts you need to know now," Redbook, September 2001, p. 36-38.  See the coalition's September 6, 2001 press release at:
<http://www.abortionbreastcancer.com/090601.htm>

4. Press Release No. 167, "IARC Monographs Programme Finds Combined Estrogen-Progestogen Contraceptives (the "pill") and Menopausal Therapy Are Carcinogenic to Humans," World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer, July 29, 2005. See <http://www.iarc.fr/ENG/Press_Releases/pr167a.html>.

5. See coalition's web page, "Medical Groups Recognizing Link," at:
<http://www.abortionbreastcancer.com/medicalgroups/index.htm>