Medical group: Tell women about abortion-cancer risk

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MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH

Medical group: Tell women about abortion-cancer risk

Coalition endorses requiring doctors to inform prospective patients of risk

http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35555

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Posted: November 12, 2003

1:27 p.m. Eastern

 

 

By Diana Lynne

© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

 

The Catholic Medical Association has added its voice to growing support for

legislation requiring abortion doctors to inform prospective patients about

the increased risk of breast cancer associated with having an abortion.

 

Upholding its mission to abide by " the principles of the Catholic faith and

morality as related to the science and practice of medicine, " the coalition

of Catholic physicians of the United States and Canada passed a resolution

urging state legislators across the country to address the matter.

 

The CMA resolution declares:

 

 

Whereas epidemiological evidence of an association between abortion and

breast cancer has existed for almost a half century,

Whereas 29 out of 38 worldwide epidemiological studies show an increased

risk of breast cancer of approximately 30 percent among women who have had

an abortion,

 

Whereas all women undergoing abortion are entitled to full informed consent

as to all risks including long term risks,

 

Therefore be it resolved that the Catholic Medical Association endorses the

passage of state legislation to require abortionists to inform all women of

their future increased vulnerability to breast cancer.

 

Minnesota and Texas lawmakers passed such informed-consent legislation

earlier this year and Massachusetts is considering a similar measure.

 

" It's tragic that some doctors have to be forced to reveal the breast cancer

risk to their patients, " commented Karen Malec, president of the Coalition

on Abortion/Breast Cancer. " However, thousands of women have developed the

disease because profiteers in the abortion and the cancer fundraising

industries misrepresented the abortion-breast cancer research and concealed

the risk from them for 46 years. "

 

The resolution cites evidence supporting an abortion-breast cancer link,

commonly known as the ABC link. Twenty-nine of 38 published studies

conducted worldwide since 1957 show a positive association between the two.

Seventeen of the 29 are statistically significant, which means there's a 95

percent certainty that the association is not by chance.

 

The CMA's endorsement follows a similar announcement by the Association of

American Physicians and Surgeons, or AAPS, favoring disclosure to patients

of the " highly plausible " relationship between abortion and increased risk

of breast cancer.

 

" 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, " said AAPS executive director

Jane Orient. " 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. "

 

Four other medical organizations recognize the ABC link. They include the

National Physicians Center for Family Resources, the American Association of

Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Breast Cancer Prevention

Institute and The Polycarp Research Institute.

 

WorldNetDaily reported earlier this year that Dr. John M. Thorpe, an

epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina's School of Public

Health, and his colleagues called for informed consent following a study

that examined a variety of physical and psychological consequences

associated with abortion.

 

" A young woman with an unintended pregnancy clearly sacrifices the

protective effect of a term delivery should she decide to abort and delay

childbearing, " wrote the authors of the study published in the January issue

of Obstetrical & Gynecological Survey. " Thus, we conclude that informed

consent before induced abortion should include information about the

subsequent risk of preterm delivery and depression. "

 

WorldNetDaily has reported on the risk cited by Thorpe and his colleagues,

known as the " protective effect " of full-term pregnancy: The sooner a woman

has her first child, the lower her risk of developing breast cancer.

 

Groups such as Planned Parenthood attack the validity of the research and

refuse to inform prospective abortion recipients of the existence,

dismissing even the statistically significant findings as " misinformation "

being used " as a weapon in the campaign against safe, legal abortion. "

 

" Undaunted by the absence of compelling evidence associating induced

abortion with a woman's risk of developing breast cancer, anti-choice

extremists insist on making the connection anyway, " says Planned Parenthood

on its website.

 

Despite the overwhelming research supporting the association and the growing

chorus of voices urging its promotion, major cancer-prevention organizations

such as the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society, or

ACS, downplay or deny the ABC link.

 

The ACS currently maintains on its website that " research studies have not

found a cause-and-effect relationship between breast cancer and abortion. "

After admitting that the research on the link between induced abortions and

breast cancer is not clear, it dismisses all 38 studies but one – known as

the Melbye study – which it describes at length.

 

" I encourage the American Cancer Society and the rest of the cancer

fund-raising establishment to come clean and abandon their paternalistic

policy of censoring any research reporting a positive relationship between

abortion and breast cancer, " said Malec. " Even a study labeled

'authoritative' and 'definitive' by the ACS and other cancer groups reports

a 29 percent risk elevation for women under age 20 who procure abortions and

a statistically significant 89 percent risk elevation for women obtaining

abortions after 18 weeks gestation. Yet, the cancer establishment has

effectively used the study to erase any notion from the minds of women that

abortion might be unsafe. "

 

Previous articles:

 

Abortion doctor caves in lawsuit

 

Study: Tell women about abortion-breast cancer link

 

Judge rules in favor of abortion clinic

 

Abortion-cancer link goes on trial

 

Related Special Offers:

 

'Back to the Drawing Board': Essay collection evaluates 30-year pro-life

cause

 

Reagan's timeless essay on abortion

 

 

 

 

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Diana Lynne is a news editor for WorldNetDaily.com.