by Bonnie Finnerty, Education Director
Breast Cancer Awareness Month is here and gone, a very worthwhile effort to be pro-active in preventing the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women. Because of heightened awareness, earlier detection, and medical advances, more women are, thankfully, able to live longer and live better.
Yet, despite the ubiquitous pink ribbons, community fundraisers, and plentiful media attention we witnessed this past month, one critical piece of information is continuously omitted. Planned Parenthood did not include it in their breast cancer awareness email this month, nor did the Susan G. Komen Foundation in their solicitation letter to me.
Induced abortion increases breast cancer risk.
Research studies on this topic are being ignored by the very people who claim to be women’s champions against breast cancer. But the facts are undeniable. The Breast Cancer Prevention Institute website (www.bcpinstitute.org) provides fact sheets referencing studies that establish a link between abortion and breast cancer. A comprehensive explanation is also provided.
In short, during the first 32 weeks of pregnancy, there are significant changes in breast tissue that increase the risk of breast cancer. After 32 weeks, elevated pregnancy hormones allow sufficient maturation of cancer-resistant breast tissue to occur. “Therefore, whether a pregnancy ends before 32 weeks with a premature birth, a second-trimester spontaneous abortion (this is, miscarriage), or an induced abortion, a woman’s risk of breast cancer is increased.”
A woman who chooses to abort “will deny herself the risk-lowering effects of full-term pregnancy, and will either remain childless or delay pregnancy, both of which increase her risk of premenopausal breast cancer at a rate of 5 percent per year of delay.” Even without the other factors, abortion itself poses an independent risk of breast cancer.
Breast cancer in pre-menopausal women has increased alarmingly over the last several decades. In a study published in the 2013 Journal of the American Medical Association, rates of metastasized breast cancer in women aged 25-39 were shown to rise 2% every year from 1976 through 2009.
It makes sense that when a natural process of the body is suddenly halted by an outside force, there are consequences. In the case of abortion, one such consequence is an increased risk of breast cancer.
But you certainly will not hear this from Planned Parenthood, who has almost tripled the number of abortions they perform since 1990. Acknowledging the link between abortion and breast cancer would not only compromise the most profitable segment of their business, such disclosure would shatter the oft-promoted illusion of caring for women by providing breast cancer screenings. In truth, the abortion giant does not provide mammograms anywhere to anyone and during the last 10 years their breast cancer exams have dropped by 65%.
Furthermore, it’s disturbing that Susan G. Komen has sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to Planned Parenthood over the years. The organization that is supposed to be waging war against breast cancer is helping to feed an organization that provides a service linked to breast cancer. How is this good for women?
I’m all for pink ribbons, but I am even more so for full disclosure of the truth. It’s what every woman deserves.