Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The number of women who have contracted breast cancer and are dying from the disease is on the rise and a women's group is blaming abortion for causing the problem.

Leading breast cancer awareness groups say they expect 5,170 more breast cancer cases and 560 more deaths than last year. In 2006, there are 274,900 expected cases of breast cancer and just under 41,000 women are expected to die from the disease this year.

One reason the numbers keep increasing is that such groups are failing to inform women that avoiding abortions and carrying a pregnancy to term can help reduce the risk of contracting the disease.

Karen Malec, president of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer, blamed the government's National Cancer Institute (NCI) and breast cancer awareness groups for lying about the abortion-breast cancer link.

Harvard researchers showed two decades ago that increased childbearing, starting at an earlier age, decreases risk, Malec explained. Meanwhile research shows that having an abortion, especially as a teenager or before a woman carries her first pregnancy to term, increases the breast cancer risk.

"Women want to prevent cancer more than they want a cure," Malec said, encouraging the groups to focus more on the abortion connection.

"The NCI and cancer fundraising businesses (some of whose leaders once worked for Planned Parenthood or other abortion clinics) are more interested in protecting the abortion industry's interests than saving women's lives," she added.

Six medical groups recognize the abortion-breast cancer link, including the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute.

"The longer a woman is pregnant before an induced abortion, the higher her risk of breast cancer," the BCPI notes in a recent publication for women. "This risk is especially high for teenagers who have an abortion in the late 1st or 2nd trimester and for those women who have never have a child."

According to the institute, "Only 5-10% of all breast cancer cases are felt to be truly genetic and caused by a breast cancer gene" meaning other causes, like abortion, are responsible for the rest.

Related web sites:
Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer - http://www.abortionbreastcancer.com
Breast Cancer Prevention Institute - http://www.bcpinstitute.org