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New Study Suggests Link Between Abortion and Breast Cancer Suppressed by Politics

In the end, it may be trial lawyers who will force full disclosure

WASHINGTON, August 29, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A new study published in the Summer 2003 Issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons (JP&S) has concluded that scientists, women's groups, and the media have consistently suppressed or ignored research that establishes a direct link between abortion and breast cancer for their own political purposes. Further, the study titled "The Abortion-Breast Cancer Link: How Politics Trumped Science and Informed Consent", found women considering abortion are not given true informed consent about the real risks of the procedure as a result of withholding this evidence.

The article discusses the epidemiologic evidence of an ABC link; the silence and denial of the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, the American Medical Association and women's groups; media bias; the bitter opposition of pro-abortion politicians; the implications for patient care; and medical malpractice issues. A companion article documents at least 49 studies that demonstrate a statistically significant increase in premature births or low birth weight with prior induced abortions.

Author Karen Malec points out that authors of studies showing the ABC link actually denied their own findings when political heat was applied. One lead author of a record-linkage case study in 1989 worked with a group of American Cancer Society (ACS) researchers who reviewed the research. By then 11 of 12 US studies indicated increased risk, but she still stated the research -- including her own -- was "inconsistent" and that she could not arrive at "definitive conclusions."

The scientific and medical community admits that the reasons for the suppression are political. The president of the American Society of Breast Surgeons said that she presented her concerns about getting information to the public about the abortion-breast cancer link, but the board felt it was "too political." The director of the Miami Breast Cancer Conference explained that there was no presentation on the program because it was "too political."

In conclusion, the author writes that in the end, it may be the trial lawyers, not the medical community, who force full disclosure through liability litigation against those who perform abortions without providing women with fully informed disclosure about the elevated risk.

Full text of article posted at:
http://www.jpands.org

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