Researchers in Sri Lanka have found what they say is a link between abortion and breast cancer. According to the study conducted by scientists at the University of Colombo, having an abortion can triple a woman’s risk of the disease, and, in fact, abortion is the greatest reported risk factor associated with breast cancer. The latest study is the fourth in the last 14 months to show such a link, following similar findings by researchers in China, Turkey, and the United States.
But an article in the Daily Mail of London noted that other cancer researchers have criticized the Sri Lankan study, with Dr. Kat Arney of Cancer Research UK suggesting that the findings might be suspect because of the small sampling of participants. “This is a very small study of only 300 women, so there are likely to be statistical errors in a sample of this size,” said Arney. “Much larger studies involving tens of thousands of women have shown no significant links.”
However, in spite of the criticism, Joe Brind, an expert on breast cancer at New York University, said that the sample of 100 women in the study who had breast cancer versus the 203 who did not is “still a good study," adding that the research “is typical of studies that have come out early in countries where breast cancer and abortion are not yet that common, like studies in the 1980s in China, Japan, Australia, and even the U.S.”
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In addition to the abortion-cancer link, the research, led by Dr. Malintha De Silva of the University of Colombo, also found that the risk of breast cancer was significantly reduced in mothers who breastfeed their newborns over a prolonged period.
The researchers found that mothers who breastfed their babies for 12 to 23 months after birth had more than a 66 percent reduction in the risk of breast cancer compared to mothers who had never breastfed or those who had only breastfed their infants for up to 11 months. The reduction in risk climbed to over 87 percent for those breastfeeding for 24 to 35 months, and to 94 percent for those breastfeeding 36 months and beyond.
“Obviously, women who abort forfeit the protective effect of breastfeeding,” noted Karen Malec of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer. “The loss of that protective effect is incurred in addition to the effect of abortion leaving the breasts with more places for cancers to start.”
Malec pointed out that one of the studies verifying the cancer link found by the Sri Lankan researchers was done by the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI), in which researchers found that both “induced abortion and oral contraceptive use were associated with increased risk of breast cancer,” with a statistically significant 40-percent increased risk of breast cancer following an abortion.
Malec argued that the NCI has for years been dodging the truth that its researchers finally — and somewhat reluctantly — admitted. “It is criminal that the U.S. National Cancer Institute has covered up this risk for over a half century,” Malec said. “It’s becoming increasingly difficult for the NCI to keep its fingers and toes in the dike, especially since many researchers in other parts of the world do not depend on the agency for grants.” (Emphasis added.)
Photo: Runners prepare to start a mass public run in front of the historic Pyramids of Giza, Egypt, in 2009, during the first public information event to raise awareness about breast cancer in the Middle East: AP Images
