Women’s Group Says British Docs Ignore Abortion-Breast Cancer Link 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 7, 2004
London, England (LifeNews.com) — A women’s group says it’s concerned that the leading organization of doctors in the U.K. has bowed to political pressure and changed its position on the link between abortion and breast cancer. The group says the doctors are doing women a disservice by now claiming no such link exists.
In 2000, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (RCOG) took a position saying research showing a link was methodologically sound and "could not be disregarded."
Bu Karen Malec, president of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer, says RCOG quietly reversed its position only five months later after it received intense pressure from the media and abortion advocates.
"That shows what the RCOG was willing to reveal when its leaders believed it was politically safe to do so," Malec said about the group’s decision to initially acknowledge the link.
Of the 41 studies which have been previously published, 29 show increased risk of breast cancer among women who have chosen abortion. According to the Breast Cancer Prevention Institution, some 16 of those studies are statistically significant.
"Any doctor or medical group that denies a cause-effect relationship is either lying or is uninformed," Malec said.
"The words, ‘Abortion raises breast cancer risk,’ stick in the throats of abortion enthusiasts," Malec explained. "Like the tobacco industry whose executives put financial interests above human lives, abortion zealots would rather see thousands die than harm their industry."
Other doctors groups acknowledge the abortion-breast cancer link.
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons says the relationship is "highly plausible" and women may reconsider abortion if they are told the facts.
"The AAPS believes that patients have the right to give or withhold fully informed consent before undergoing medical treatment. This includes notification of potential adverse effects," says AAPS executive director Jane Orient, M.D.
"While there is a difference of medical opinion concerning the abortion-breast cancer link, there is a considerable volume of evidence supporting this link, which is, moreover, highly plausible. We believe that a reasonable person would want to be informed of the existence of this evidence before making her decision," Orient explained.
According to BCPI, a teenager who has an abortion between 9 and 24 weeks of pregnancy — when most are performed — has a 30% chance of developing breast cancer in her lifetime, compared with a 12.5% risk among all women.
If that same teenager also has a family history of breast cancer, the risk increases so much that one study showed all such women developed breast cancer by the age of 45.
Related web sites:
Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer – https://www.AbortionBreastCancer.com
Breast Cancer Prevention Institute – https://www.bcpinstitute.org
Association of American Physicians and Surgeons – https://www.aapsonline.org
