Anti-Choice Claims About Abortion and Breast Cancer

Studies have shown that abortion is not associated with breast cancer. Undaunted by the absence of compelling evidence, anti-choice extremists insist on making the connection anyway. Once more they are using misinformation as a weapon in their campaign against safe, legal abortion.

Anti-choice zealots in the United States have drwn highly questionable conclusions to develop 'public education' campaigns such as the advertisements sponsored by Christ's Bride Ministries that have appeared on public transportation vehicles in Philadelphia warning that 'women who choose abortion suffer more and deadlier breast cancer' (Slobozian, 1999). These misinformation campaigns have used many forms of media and advertising to mislead women about abortion, including television, billboards, bumper stickers and print ads (Simon,2002).

Anti-abortion foes are also lobbying for legislation in the US that would require telling women who are considering abortion that having one would place them at an incresed risk for breast cancer (Querido,1999).

Anti-Choice claims linking abortion and breast cancer fly in the face of of scientific evidence. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the United States, the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (ACOG) have alll refuted of such an association (ACS, 2003; ACOG, 2003; NCI, 2003).

Rigorous Studies Dismiss Association
In February 2003, NCI convened the Early Reproductive Events and Breast Cancer Workshop to 'provide an integrated scientific assessment of the association between reproductive events and the risk of breast cancer'. After reviewing the body of scientific literature, NCI concluded that 'Induced abortion is not associated with an increase in breast cancer risk' (NCI, 2003).

In August 2003, after conducting its own review of scientific literature, ACOG issued a committee opinion concluding that 'early studies of the relationship between prior induced abortion and breast cancer risk have been inconsistent and are difficult to interpret because of methodologic considerations. More rigorous recent studies argue against a causal relationship between induced abortion and a subsequent increase in breast cancer risk' (ACOG, 2003).

Three of the Strongest Studies Published to Date Show No Overall Relationship Between Induced Abortion and Breast Cancer
One of the most highly regarded studies on abortion and breast cancer was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1997. This study of 1.5 million found no overall connection between the two (Melbye et al., 1997). This study benefited from its size- 1.5 million women- and by linking data from the National Registry of Induced Abortions and the Danish Cancer Registry, thereby avoiding one of the pitfalls observed in some case control studies- that women with breast cancer were more likely to recall having had an induced abortion than women without breast cancer, particularly because aboriton had been illegal (Brody, 1997; Westhoff, 1997). An accompanying editorial on the results of the study led the writer to conclude that, 'in short, a woman need not worry about the risk of breast cancer when facing the difficult decision of whether to terminate a pregnancy' (Hartge, 1997).

Another large cohort study was done in Sweden. It followed, for as long as 20 years beginning in 1966, 49,000 women who had had abortions before the age of 30. Not only did the study show no indication of an overall risk of breast cancer after an induced abortion in the first trimester, but it also suggested that there could well be a slightly reduced risk. Among women who had given birth prior to induced abortion, the relative risk for breast cancer was 0.58; for those who had never given birth, the relative risk was 1.09; for the total sample the relative risk was 0.77 (Lindefors Harris et al., 1989).

In 2004, an international collaborative analysis of data about 83,000 women with breast cancer who were involved in 53 studies that took place in countires with liberal abortion laws found that pregnancies that end in either induced or spontaneous abortion do not increase a woman's risk of developing breast cancer (Collaborative Group.., 2004).

Cited references
ACS- American Cancer Society. (2003, accessed 2004, February 4th) Can Having an Abortion Cause or Contribute to Breast Cancer? (online)
ACOG- American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. 'Committee Opinion: Induced Abortion and Breast Cancer Risk', Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 102, 433-435.
Brody, Jane E (1997, Jan 9). 'Big Study Finds No Link in Abortion and Cancer' New York Times p. A12
Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer. (2004, March 27). 'Breast Cancer and Abortion: Collaborative Reanalysis of Data from 53 Epidemiological Studies, including 83,000 women with Breast Cancer from 16 countries.' The Lancet 363, 1007-1016.
Hartge, Patricia. (1997). 'Abortion, Breast Cancer and Epidemiology.' New England Journal of Medicine, 336(2), 127-128.
Lindefors Harris, Britte-Marie, et al. (1989). 'Risk of Cancer after Legal Abortion during First Trimester: A Swedish Register Study.' British Medical Journal, 299(December 9) 1430-1432
Melbye, Mads, et al. (1997). 'Induced Abortion and the Risk of Breast Cancer'. New England Journal of Medicine, 336(2) 81-85.
NCI-National Cancer Institute. (2003, accessed 2004, February 4). Summary Report: Early Reproductive Events and Breast Cancer Workshop (Online).
http://cancer.gov/cancerinfo/ere-workshop-report
Querido, Melissa. (1999). 'State of the States: A Selection of Legislative Initiatives around the Country.' Reproductive Freedom News, 8(3), p.3
Simon, Stephanie. (2002, March 24) 'Abortion Foes Seize on Reports of Cancer Link in Ad Campaign.' Los Angeles Times.
Slobodzian, Joseph A. (1999, April 1). 'Philadelphia Transit Authority, Religious Group Settle over Pulled Ads.' Philadelphia Inquirer.
Westhoff,Carolyn. (1997) 'Abortion and Breast Cancer: Good Data at Last.' IPPF Medical Bulletin. 31(2), 1-2.