Abortion Opponents Distort Scientific Data to Advance Their Agenda
Despite a lack of evidence associating abortion with an increased risk of breast cancer, anti-choice groups are distorting scientific data and manipulating information to advance their political agenda. Over thirty published studies have examined any possible link between abortion and breast cancer. The largest and most comprehensive investigation of this potential relationship examined population registry information on abortion and breast cancer for 1.5 million women born in Denmark between 1935 and 1978. This study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, concluded, “[i]nduced abortions have no overall effect on the risk of breast cancer.” Results from a study published in the January 2000 issue of Epidemiology found “no excess risk of breast cancer among women who reported having an induced abortion compared with those who did not, nor did risk increase with increasing number of reported induced abortions.” Studies that indicate a link have identified only a slight one — equal to or less than the increased breast cancer risk associated with marital status, place of residence, or religion. Anti-choice forces are seeking to enact state laws requiring doctors to inform women of the purported association between abortion and breast cancer. One state has adopted such a law thus far; in 1996, Mississippi amended its abortion-specific “informed” consent laws to prohibit a woman from obtaining an abortion until she receives state-mandated information on the risk of breast cancer. In 2001, eighteen (18) states (AR, GA, HI, IL, KS, MA, MN, MS, MO, NV, NM, NC, OK, OR, RI, TX, VT, WV) introduced 34 legislative measures warning women of the purported link between abortion and breast cancer. In 2002, 7 states (CA, MO, NJ, OH, OK, RI, WV) introduced 10 measures warning women of such a purported link. In 2003, sixteen (16) states (GA, HI, IL, MA, MN, MO, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OK, OR, TX, VT, WA, WV) introduced 37 bills requiring health care providers warn women of the alleged link between abortion and breast cancer. In 2003 to comply with new state law, the Minnesota Health Department produced a website and pamphlet in which the purported link between abortion and breast cancer is discussed. Some state legislators and public health workers claim the state Health Department improperly “publish[ed] unreliable information about breast cancer, compromising the agency’s stature as a source of accurate health information.” Senator John Marty stated, “A Health Department with a sterling reputation is trashing it for the political agenda of a handful of people. Providing misinformation to anyone with breast cancer is inexcusable.”
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