Understanding the Debate: Abortion and Women’s Health
It is essential to raise awareness about how abortion can affect women’s physical and mental health. During Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we should not ignore the possible connection between abortion and the risk of breast cancer. In a pro-abortion culture and pro-abortion medical world, it is difficult to find consensus on the connection between the two. But women should be aware that an abortion may put their future health at risk.
Conflicting Reports and Bias in Medical Research
Pro-abortion organizations claim that pro-life groups attempt to scare women by telling them about a potential connection between abortion and breast cancer. But the very places that claim to help women – by providing them with abortions – are harming their patients in the process. While Planned Parenthood alleges to be pro-woman, many women have had terrible experiences with their clinics. A New York Times report from earlier this year describes the failure of care women receive due to workers who are not well-trained. Planned Parenthood has been accused of providing harmful care to many women and is facing legal action. “[A] case of [a] botched abortion in New York is one of scores of allegations reviewed by The Times that accuse Planned Parenthood of poor care,” the article noted.
The Risks Women Face in Pro-Abortion Clinics
Women’s health should not be a divisive topic in the medical world, but the prevalence of abortion has made it so. There are conflicting reports regarding the relationship between abortion and breast cancer. As implied in a published opinion by the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians & Gynecologists (AAPLOG), there is a conflict of interest between many groups reporting information on abortion and breast cancer because they are pro-abortion. But helping women know about potentially harmful effects on their health is not an attempt to scare them, and anyone who suggests as much is not giving women the credit they deserve.
How Pregnancy Affects Breast Cancer Risk
The breast tissue that is created in early pregnancy (type 1 and type 2 lobules) is more susceptible to developing cancer. However, later in pregnancy, these morph into different kinds of tissue that protect a woman from developing breast cancer. Therefore, women who have had multiple full-term pregnancies have a lower risk of breast cancer. In effect, the AAPLOG authors conclude that “[t]he longer a woman’s breast is composed of mostly type 1 and 2 lobules, the higher a woman’s risk of breast cancer.”
The Role of Breast Tissue Development
One study in Science Direct noted that while there may be a temporary increase in the risk of breast cancer after a pregnancy, it also stated that there are natural defenses to breast cancer that a woman’s body develops through pregnancy. According to the report, “over the long term, pregnancy and also breastfeeding…are associated with a protective effect against breast cancer.”
Protective Effects of Full-Term Pregnancies and Breastfeeding
AAPLOG pointed out that despite the bias of many studies, “[f]rom 1957 to 2018, there were 76 studies differentiating induced from spontaneous abortion. Sixty studies showed a positive association of increasing breast cancer risk.” The authors of the Science Direct report noted that while there is a lot of research that shows no correlation between abortion and a greater risk of breast cancer, there are still studies where “small or significant connections between [induced abortion] and [breast cancer]” have been discovered.
The study noted that “available data suggest a positive association between [breast cancer] and [induced abortion] in [women who have given birth], whereas no association can be found for [women who have not given birth]…” At the very least, there should be further studies conducted to quantify the risk of breast cancer for women who have had an abortion.
Abortion and Breast Cancer Awareness
Abortion is harmful to women, whether it causes an increased risk of breast cancer or not. The political or cultural popular landscape should not govern medical knowledge and studies. This is true for either side of the abortion debate. Facts and studies should not be skewed in the direction of the pro-life movement or the pro-abortion side. Women deserve access to unbiased information and facts.
If nothing else is clear, it should be clear that women need more research conducted on the potential connection between abortion and breast cancer. During breast cancer awareness month, this should be demanded by all women.
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