What you should know about the Abortion-Breast Cancer link
by intern Anne Marie D.
Note: Anne Marie is a nursing major. The following is an excerpt from her research paper on the link between abortion and breast cancer.
[JLS note: Anne Marie does a fabulous job explaining the ABC link in this piece!]
In essence, the case for a link between induced abortion and breast cancer, or the ABC link, is based on several simple biological principles. Minimal background in breast physiology will suffice to introduce these principles.
First, the main units of the breast are lobules, which consist of milk-producing glands and ducts, composed of individual breast cells. Four types of lobules exist. From the end of puberty until the 3rd trimester of her first full-term pregnancy, a woman’s breast tissue is comprised of Type 1 and 2 lobules. Type 1 lobules, or ductal lobules, are associated with 80% of all breast cancers (Bachiochi, Ch. 8). Both Types 1 and 2 lobules are considered cancer-vulnerable….
The longer a woman waits to complete her first full-term pregnancy, the longer her breast tissue is comprised only of cancer-vulnerable lobules. This indirect link, as it is referred to, between waiting to complete a full-term pregnancy and an increased risk of breast cancer, is uncontested.
In addition to the indirect link, certain breast cancer researchers have found a direct link, resulting from the following biologic principles: When a woman becomes pregnant, her estrogen levels shoot up 2000% by the end of the first semester, causing rapid proliferation of Type 1 and 2 lobules. This proliferation accounts for an increase in size and tenderness in the breast, and simultaneously explains why first-trimester miscarriages are not associated with increased risk.
Oftentimes, women who have first-trimester miscarriages deny knowing that they were pregnant, primarily because their breasts never enlarged or grew tender. For these women, there was neither a spike in estrogen, nor increased proliferation of Type 1 and Type 2 lobules. Thus, while they did not gain Type 3 and Type 4 cancer-resistant lobules, neither did they experience increased risk from Type 1 and Type 2 proliferation.
Admittedly, pregnant women who do not miscarry experience slightly increased risk of breast cancer for a time, as the proliferation means that breast cancer has more places to start. Remarkably though, by the 32nd week of the pregnancy, women begin developing Type 3 and Type 4 lobules. Both types are considered cancer-resistant.
The heart of the ABC link, then, lies in the increased proliferation of Type 1 and Type 2 lobules, without gaining the protection of the cancer-resistant Type 3 and Type 4 lobules. Perhaps most telling for women is an estimated 30% increase in personal risk of breast cancer in relation to having an abortion. The following diagram from Dr. Angela Lanfranchi’s Breast Cancer: Risks & Prevention provides a pictorial representation of the time line and types of lobules throughout pregnancy.
Works Cited: Bachiochi, Erika, ed. The Cost of “Choice”: Women Evaluate the Impact of Abortion. San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2004.
Lanfranchi, Angela. “Breast Cancer Risks & Prevention.” Breast Cancer Prevention Institute. 2007. 4th Ed. Retrieved April 20, 2009 from Breast Cancer Prevention Institute Website. http://bcpinstitute.org/booklet4.htm#estrogen.
[Photo attribution: scrapetv.com]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Komen supports Planned parenthood and denies this info. Actually there are cases when there is a lump and there only 3-4 history questions to ask and you know the woman has cancer. Not a lot of research out there because having abortions is self reported and not accurate. Studies where countries have the files on women reval the correlation. This is not a politically correct topic. Docs in a couple of states are required by law to tell a woman fgetting an abortion of the risk of cancer.
Thank you for sharing your research paper with us, Anne Marie!
80% of the the 70 epidemiological studies carried out in the last fifty years show a definitive link between abortion and breast cancer. Dr. Janet Daling, self-described as “pro-choice” found an abortion increased the overall risk for developing breast cancer by 50%. Furthermore, for girls aborting before age 18, the risk was increased 150%. If prior to age 18 and between 9 and 24 weeks gestation, the risk rose to 800%. Factor in a family history of breast cancer and one study found ALL the women that fell into this category developed breast cancer before age 45.
(Journal of the National Cancer Institute Vol. 86 No. 21)
Susan G. Komen donating to PP is, as I read recently (here? Hat tip to whoever it was, if so), akin to the American Lung Association donating money to the tobacco industry to screen their clients for lung cancer.
Expecting posts of contradicting studies (which I’ve already pointed out are in the minority), I will say this: follow the money behind them! Given the ACS’ decades of being willing partners to deception, so hand in glove with the pharmaceutical companies that profit from increased sales of their cancer drugs (and oral contraceptives, hmm…), it’s no surprise to see where their loyalties lie.
Thanks for sharing this. I have a few questions:
Oftentimes, women who have first-trimester miscarriages deny knowing that they were pregnant, primarily because their breasts never enlarged or grew tender.
Is there a source for this? How often is oftentimes — enough to affect the rate at which miscarriage risks would differ from abortion risks? How do women self-identify as having had first-trimester miscarriages if they didn’t know that they were pregnant, which would imply that at least some of them miscarried early enough to not miss more than one period? (Obviously not all women skip periods; and certainly some women go through almost an entire pregnancy without knowing they’re pregnant — but this isn’t the norm. Some early miscarriages are not very painful, so they can’t simply all become aware that they’re miscarrying when it happens.) Do the women in this sentence cite a lack of breast tenderness as a reason they didn’t know they were pregnant, or is this just assumed since the women don’t know they’re pregnant?
Is the assumption that first-trimester miscarriage thus carries a lesser risk than first-trimester abortion based on the belief that first-trimester miscarriage is linked to the lack of an estrogen spike?
xppc:
Studies where countries have the files on women reval the correlation.
Do you have examples? I only know of the Danish study (as far as studies that use records to control for response bias), and that showed the opposite.
Hi Alexandra,
If its any help, miscarriage is the natural expulsion of the fetus, sometimes there isn’t a fetus, that the body prepares for by decreasing hormonal levels and eventually contractions. This is not an abrupt termination that induced abortion is on a woman’s body that is unprepared.
This may explain why the woman who miscarries is not at greater risk for breast cancer.
Yes I have heard women say, prior to miscarrying, they knew something was wrong, their pregnancy did not seem normal, they had few symptoms, etc. Also that their pregnancy symptoms gradually decreased. I’m afraid I have no studies to support this. This was likely an indication their bodies were preparing for miscarriage.
Also a woman can experience “ghost periods” thus not realizing she is indeed pregnant.
Also underlying gynecological disorders can mimic pregnancy so that a woman pays little attention to symptoms she normally has.
A close friend of mine, a medical professional, was pregnant twice and didn’t know either time until 5 months! That was because she had polycystic ovaries and other than thinking she could not become pregnant, chronically had symptoms of pregnancy which she had learned to overlook as just part of her disorder.
Hi klynn 73,
An interesting fact about Dr.Daling is she was determined to prove there was NO breast cancer/abortion connection! She went into her research biased in favor of NOT findind a connection, but in fact did find one.
I wish I had known or at least been told there was a risk for breast cancer before my abortion. I wish a lot of things.
Thank you for all of the research!!!
I’m skeptical. The American Cancer Society denies causation(different from correlation). Pretty much all mainstream medical sources have found no link. If those on either side of the abortion debate have anything to do with studies they are worthless because of the risk of bias. It would kind of be like a tobacco comany publishing a study that found cigarettes don’t cause cancer.
All you need to know about the Abortion-Breast Cancer link is that there isn’t one.
Also a woman can experience “ghost periods” thus not realizing she is indeed pregnant.
Thanks Mary, I realize this — my mom didn’t know she was pregnant my my younger sister until almost the second trimester, herself! My question is, assuming a woman has no symptoms of pregnancy before experiencing a miscarriage in the first trimester, wouldn’t it, generally speaking, be likely that she miscarried earlier than later; and if so, then how do these women identify themselves as having miscarried yet not having had any symptoms of pregnancy? I know women who suspect that they have miscarried, after the fact, putting a variety of factors together; but I don’t know of many who definitively realized that they were pregnant after miscarrying early.
Responses to early pregnancy seems like a very subjective area. Women in my family tend to experience no tenderness or illness at all; I was violently ill; some of my friends had extremely tender breasts; others felt nothing at all; others felt implantation cramping and knew before they missed their first period. Some of my friends experience breast tenderness every menstrual cycle, so they would probably not register tenderness as a sign of early pregnancy. While it makes sense that some women who are about to miscarry would notice a decrease in symptoms relative to what they were previously experiencing, I question the acceptance of a lack of experienced symptoms as evidence that the bodies of women who will miscarry are not undergoing the same processes as the bodies of women who will not miscarry. There are so many divergent experiences among women who carry to term and women who miscarry.
This is why I’m curious about the specifics behind that sentence. It seems very general, for such an important aspect of this point of view.
I also wonder about the process of miscarriage — and how much preparation the body goes through, depending on the circumstances. How soon before miscarriage would the estrogen spike be stopped? Days? Weeks? If a woman miscarries at 9 weeks, does her body experience that much difference in process from a woman who aborts at 8 weeks? etc etc etc.
I have to say that from the studies I have seen that control for response bias, I haven’t found any which demonstrate an increased risk. I have seen some which demonstrate an increased risk of breast cancer with regards to gestational age at which abortion takes place, with noticeable increases being suggested at around 15 weeks.
libertarian,
As despicable as it is, politics is thrown in the mix. The media and feminists that howled like banshees over the supposed risks of breast implants are strangely silent on the ABC, and there was a lot less evidence against breast implants. Personal biases for or against abortion will be at play here. However the studies are out there and women have a right to be informed of this and to study both sides of the issue objectively and thoroughly. They can draw their own conclusions.
Remember that Dr.Daling was a biased researcher determined to show there was NO connection between breast cancer and abortion. She discovered just the opposite.
http://www.abortionbreastcancer.org is an excellent source of information you might not otherwise get.
One can call a source biased, but if they can back up what they say, you have to wonder if there is indeed something to what they claim.
Sure Reality,
And since I don’t choose to believe there is a link between cigarettes and emphysema, then one doesn’t exist. There, that’s simple enough.
Also the National Cancer Institute. But, hey, there’s creationism here. What do you expect?
I appreciate all the comments so far. One question I have for those who disagree- what part of the biology is flawed? Yes, you can cite studies saying that there is no link, most certainly (including, I understand, the American Cancer Society, and other well-known advocates for cancer victims in America and abroad)- but where is the biological contradiction? What part of the principles I stated is erroneous? This, in the studies that I have read saying that there is no link, has not been clarified.
http://bcpinstitute.org/booklet4.htm#history
Alexandra, I would imagine that a woman’s body would adjust hormonally differently with a miscarriage than an abortion, if only because the miscarriage takes several days or weeks to complete, while the abortion takes just minutes.
I would be interested in seeing if women who have d&c’s after fetal demise have a different rate of cancer than those who have natural miscarriages.
Alexandra,
Some women experience no pregnancy symptoms, other than missed periods. Others have very profound ones. A woman may suspect she miscarried when in fact she had a late period or a false pregnancy, likely brought on by the stress of fearing they were pregnant. You’d be surprised how neg. pregnancy tests can bring on periods.
Or she may have a normal period, and not realize she is miscarrying a very early pregnancy.
Yes every woman’s experience is different. I was worried with my third baby since I had so few symptoms with her as compared to her brother and sister.
About miscarriage, again this will vary with each woman. Sometimes a fetus will not be expelled and must be surgically removed through D&C. Sometimes there is no fetal development. The fetus may be dead for several days or weeks before contractions begin. They may begin immediately. The miscarriage may prove very difficult, traumatic, and dangerous to the mother, it may seem like only a normal period. So many times a woman will ask what happened and why and we simply have no answer for her, we just don’t know.
I’m afraid I can’t answer questions about changes in hormonal levels, when they occur, etc., only that they should do so in a normal non traumatic miscarriage, and the body prepare for expulsion of the fetus. Again if the woman notices any changes in her pregnancy symptoms is as you say, purely subjective.
I also wonder about the process of miscarriage — and how much preparation the body goes through, depending on the circumstances. How soon before miscarriage would the estrogen spike be stopped? Days? Weeks? If a woman miscarries at 9 weeks, does her body experience that much difference in process from a woman who aborts at 8 weeks? etc etc etc.
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I have a friend who recently experienced a miscarriage. They were seeing a fertility specialist, I believe, and she was overjoyed to learn that she was only about two weeks pregnant. Her body was already feeling “different,” according to her. Unfortunately, upon further testing, her dr. informed her that her hcg levels were dropping and that she would soon experience a miscarriage. They checked her every two days for over a week, and the numbers continued to decrease. Eventually, she did expel her child and was devastated. I don’t know about the estrogen spike and all of that, but I do know that they were able to tell her she was about to miscarry more than a week before the actual event occurred. Don’t know if that info helps any with your questions…
Both of my miscarriages were as different as my pregnancies. With one there was a general feeling of “not being pregnant” anymore. The morning sickness was going away, not feeling as tired…I knew. My doctor confirmed my decreasing levels.
The other miscarriage was confirmed by bleeding and I lost that baby within days.
I also had a friend that did not know she was pregnant but was one week late and found out she were pregnant only to lose the baby soon after. She hadn’t “felt” pregnant at all.
I don’t know about the estrogen spike and all of that, but I do know that they were able to tell her she was about to miscarry more than a week before the actual event occurred.
Kel, that is consistent with the experiences of women I know who miscarried after being closely monitored in early pregnancy. The hcg levels began decreasing about a week in advance, in most cases.
I am curious about the women mentioned, whose breasts do not get tender. Is that lack of tenderness being used to claim that there is no estrogen spike, because that seems somewhat subjective; or is there in fact no estrogen spike?
Given that the estrogen spike happens so early, I would imagine that most women who miscarry in the middle to late first term probably go through it. Would the process of miscarrying gradually have the possibility of decreasing the quantity Type 1 or 2 lobules?
I think it is also worth mentioning, there has been research showing that long term breastfeeding and bearing children at a young age offer protective factors to prevent cancer. The Breast Cancer Prevention Institute as mentioned in the article has a wealth of info at their site.
I never donate to Susan B Komen and suggest the BCPI as an alternative to those that want to help.
I have a really high incidence of cancer in my family history and of course was never informed of this when I went for my abortion.
Other countries that had legal abortion way before we did had already found this rise in breast cancer and tried to make the U.S. aware of these statistics.
“I have a really high incidence of cancer in my family history and of course was never informed of this when I went for my abortion. ”
Why let a little cancer stand in the way of abortion?
Janet,
Maybe it would have given me a reason to get out of my abortion decision by my fiance. He was pushing for it and maybe it would have been a way out for me.
I feel that women are kept in the dark about these very dangerous effects of abortion. And the trauma to the mothers body and loss of life to her baby. No they don’t want us to know any of this, just to hurry up and get that abortion.
I will always have that breast cancer possibility in the back of my mind for the rest of my life, amongst all the other regrets from my abortion…
Were there any citations at all in this paper? If not, I hope she failed. Any sort of proper research paper ought to cite previous research. There was one parenthetical citation in the excerpt: unless the rest of the paper was considerably more substantial, I’d hardly call it a research paper.
Additionally, this states that the longer a woman waits to get pregnant, the greater her risk for cancer is, and that this fact is uncontested. Prove it. Cite something, anything. Rarely is anything uncontested in science, and I’d be very interested in hearing more about this. There’s the obvious response that the entire paper hints of disapproval for women who wait until later to have children–or chose not to have children at all.
Wow, Human. You need to work on your reading comprehension skills. The works cited is clearly stated at the end of the article.
There were two mis-formatted works cited at the end. Unless this was the entirety of the paper, there should be many, many more. A mid-level research paper, ten pages, should have five sources. Those sources should be extensively cited, and the majority should be from professional journals.
Are you kidding me, HA?
Good to know your standard for a blog post. I’ll expect the same from you from now on.
Please give me 5 well cited sources from professional journals debunking the claims made by this post.
Here’s one to get you st arted
http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/77/4/495
Again, reading comprehension. This was an excerpt from a paper… thus only a portion of the citations.
Do you have anything OTHER than you think it is misformatted to comment on? Otherwise I think it’s obvious why you’re critiquing citation formatting… because you can’t argue with the facts.
Also please be aware that nursing students use APA formatting.
I also wonder about the process of miscarriage — and how much preparation the body goes through, depending on the circumstances. How soon before miscarriage would the estrogen spike be stopped? Days? Weeks? If a woman miscarries at 9 weeks, does her body experience that much difference in process from a woman who aborts at 8 weeks? etc etc etc.
A woman charting using NFP can see the changes in her body via her “fertility” symptoms – in the case of the sympto-thermal method, via her basal body temperature changes which reflect hormonal changes. A woman confirms pregnancy using NFP with 20 high temperatures above her normal basal body temperature. Often times miscarriage will be suspected in the temperature begins to decline after this point.
I’m curious to know if Anne Marie has learned about NFP and if it is taught in nursing school.
Having never had a miscarriage myself I can only state the experiences of my friends who have – for most it was a gradual change over weeks leading up to the miscarriage. Generally a decrease in the symptoms of pregnancy such as cramping, morning sickness, breast tenderness etc. In some cases, friends still had all the symptoms of pregnancy and went in for tests which showed they were pregnant but had a feeling something was not right and eventually miscarried.
I also have to say that I personally experienced a positive change in my breast tissue from my pregnancies. I had very fibrous breast tissue with cysts prior to getting pregnant. After several pregnancies my breast tissue has changed completely – the fibrous tissue and cysts permanently gone. So I can say that there are definitely changes resulting from pregnancy and nursing that are very beneficial for women.
The reason cancer institutes do not support the body of scientific evidence showing abortion and breast cancer link is due to the politicized nature of abortion.
I think even if women were dropping like flies from abortion, it would still be promoted as a liberating, safe option for women. :(
I think even if women were dropping like flies from abortion, it would still be promoted as a liberating, safe option for women. :(
So true Angel… how sad is that.
I don’t believe NFP is taught in nursing schools nor med sxhools, but it should be. As far as I know, it is up to the health care provider to learn on their own. I believe it is an art that can be passed down from mother to daughter. It is beneficial for women to chart and be able to see a problem before obvious symptoms occur.
Karen Malec was interviewed for 60 minutes on two different radio programs regarding this topic. You can listen to the show on the audio archives…
1. She was on “Catholic Answers Live” on 1-20-06. You can find it on its search engine at…
http://www.catholic.com/radio/calendar_search.php?calendar=1&category=
2. Karen Malec was also interviewed on EWTN and you can go to the audio archives at…
http://www.ewtn.com/vondemand/audio/intro.asp
Angel 6:56am
The abortion industry is about as anxious to get to the truth of an ABC as the cigarette industry was to prove a connection between cigarettes and lung cancer.
No, NFP is not taught in nursing school. Actually, very little is taught about contraceptives in toto. It’s not really a “nursing” issue, per se. That would fall under the scope of practice of a nurse practitioner in the field of women’s health or midwifery.
well I know most physicians aren’t taught because they look at you like you’re a stupid cow when you tell them you’re using NFP. After that come the derogatory remarks…… :(
It is a very good article by Marie.
My analogy for the Abortion/Breast Cancer link is like giving a sixteen year old a sports car.
The first thing the teenager does is run the new sports car into a brick wall.
Strange analogy? Turning on so much of the “body’s hormones” and then abruptly shutting them off is, in my opinion, like running a car into a brick wall.
The human body will react to very “volatile changes” such as turning on tremendous amounts of these hormones to help “mature” the breasts, and then just abruptly turning them off.
It is like going at a very high speed, and then running a brick wall. The impact of stopping by
hitting a brick wall is something that is very hard on the human body.
So is shutting off the massive supplies of hormones with the unnatural termination of the pregnancy.
Additionally, the body must recover from the “damage” done to the womb by the sudden removal and death of the unborn (the unborn is being fed and given oxygen by the mother.
So the abortion (surgical, saline, or whatever) has several nasty implications on the human body.
The mother might be made “infertile” by the abortion procedure, as well as “tissue” damage in the womb.
Then there is the case of “Denise Doe” — a woman who suffered a botched abortion at the hands of an incompetent abortionist.
She nearly lost her life…
+God bless