There is probably no more hotly debated topic today than abortion. And a lot of people are tired of hearing about it. The bottom line tends to be that most people want to do what they want without consequence. But that is just not reality. ALL choices have consequences. But the fact that this issue has become one of political correctness has led the media to keep silent on an issue which has grave effects on women's health. And this study was not funded by a pro-life group (although it was downplayed by Planned Parenthood's "research" arm - addressed in a response here already). The following is taken from Dr. James Howenstein's website.

Dr. James A. Howenstine is a board certified specialist in internal medicine who spent 34 years caring for office and hospital patients.

ABORTION CAUSES BREAST CANCER


By Dr. James Howenstine, MD.
December 26, 2003
NewsWithViews.com

Most women in the United States are unaware that having an abortion increases the risk of developing breast cancer. The fact that abortion causes breast cancer has been nearly completely suppressed by the media because it is a politically incorrect issue. More than 30 studies have confirmed a relationship between having an abortion and the subsequent development of breast cancer. Since 1960 there has been a surge in the number of women developing breast cancer in the USA. Currently every woman in this nation has between a 10 and 12% chance of developing breast cancer.

Dr. Joel Brind, Professor of Biology and Endocrinology at Baruch College of the City College of New York has been crusading to get the information that abortion is a major factor in the causation of breast cancer to the public. Not one magazine or newspaper was willing to print his findings. His research was finally reported in Lancet, a fine English medical journal.

When you enter a Planned Parenthood Clinic to have an abortion do they tell you that this procedure increases your chance of breast cancer by 50%? If a woman has an abortion at anytime, her chance of developing breast cancer goes up by at least 50%.

In November 1994, a National Cancer Institute (NCI) study done at Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, Wash. showed a clear link between having an abortion and the subsequent development of breast cancer. This NCI research disclosed that if the abortion was performed before age 18, the risk was increased by 150 %. If the woman was over 30 and had a family history of mother, sister, grandmother, or aunt with breast cancer the risk went up by 270%. The most ominous finding was that every woman who had an abortion before age 18 and had a family history of breast cancer developed breast cancer by the age of 45. There were only 12 women in this study who fit this category, but they all developed breast cancer. (Source: November 1994 National Cancer Institute report of a study performed at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington).

A Howard University study in December 1993 confirmed these NCI findings but had a longer follow up. By the time the women who had an abortion reached the age of 50 the chance of breast cancer had increased by 370%.

The story for multiple abortions is even worse. The more abortions a woman has the greater the risk of breast cancer. A study from France showed that a woman with a family history of breast cancer who had 2 or more abortions increased her risk of breast cancer 6 fold.

In Lithuania it is common for women to have had 5 abortions by the time they reach 25. They are experiencing an explosive increase in breast cancer in young women.

Many women believe that there is nothing wrong with having an abortion. Proverbs 14:12 states" There is a way that seems right unto man, but the end thereof is death." Abortion not only kills the child it jeopardizes the life of the mother.

Why does abortion increase the chance of breast cancer?

Dr. Brind believes that abortion leaves the breast cells in a permanent suspended state where they are neither dormant nor mature and that these cells are susceptible to undergo malignant change.

Remember, ladies and gentlemen, all decisions have consequences. And contrary to popular opinion, pro-life people, including myself, care about BOTH lives - the babies' and the mothers'. And unlike abortion clinics, the pro-life movement is staffed largely by volunteers, and the money given to fund pregnancy centers comes mostly from donations. Every year, there are more requests for adoptions that go unfulfilled than there are abortions. Maybe there are women who do not have the support that I did when I was a single mother 16 years ago and are unable to keep their children. There are arms that would welcome them. There are people that will help. But then again, maybe there are women who simply feel that they do not want to "go through" pregnancy and childbirth, for whatever reason. They may not only be robbing their child of a life and a home, but they may be robbing themselves of a future. It's worth thinking about.