Pro-Life Corner

Pat Gaummer
October 2005

What Elephant

What a gloriously beautiful fall we have had! I had heard late summer that it wasn’t going to be a colorful fall because of the lack of rain. They aren’t always right are they? The trees have been breathtaking! As fall progresses, it’s just a matter of time before those strong winds and rain strip the trees of their beauty. I would like to thank everyone who participated in our Fall Festival of Hope. Dan Pearson was wonderful and really spoke from the heart. A big thanks to you Dan!

Once again it is October, the month that is set-aside for Breast Cancer Awareness. I count it a blessing that I have the vehicle of this column to inform the readers of crucial information pertaining to issues relevant to our ministry. A dear friend of mine, CJ Payne, director of two pregnancy centers in the quad cities, recently wrote an article about a subject that is dear to my heart that being the subject of abortion as a risk factor for breast cancer. She entitled it Let’s Not Ignore the Elephant in the Room. She caught a news story on TV about the link scientists have found between eating French fries as a child and breast cancer. She wondered if the world had gone crazy or was she just getting old and cranky? Why do we get that kind of information in the news but not the fact that abortion is a breast cancer risk factor? There have been more studies done on the abortion risk factor than the French-fry connection. Don’t get me wrong; I am not stating that the French fry factor should be ignored. ALL risk factors for breast cancer should be identified! I am amazed that the issue of abortion is so steeped in political correctness in our society that we ignore medical research when it pertains to abortion!

Abortion interrupts the natural process of breast development, leaving the breast with more cells that can become cancerous. Elevated levels of estrogen during pregnancy cause both normal and pre-cancerous cells to multiply dramatically. Third trimester hormones of a full term pregnancy turn cells into milk producing cells and turn off their growth (cancer-forming) potential. Carrying a pregnancy full term gives protection against breast cancer that cannot be gained if abortion is chosen.

In her article, CJ sited numerous studies that have been done around the world. Of the 41 studies which have been previously published, 29 show increased risk of breast cancer among women who have chosen abortion. According to the Breast Cancer Prevention Institution (BCPI), some 16 of those studies are “statistically significant”. This is a technical term which means the data provided at least 95% certainty that the association measured was not due to chance. Abortion was legalized in the United States in 1973. According to the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer, there has been a 40% increase in the incidence of breast cancer among American women in the last quarter of the 20th century.

The abortion breast cancer link prominently affects teenagers. According to BCPI, a teenager who has an abortion between 9 and 24 weeks of pregnancy- when most are performed has a 30% chance of developing breast cancer in her lifetime, compared with a 12.5% risk among all women. Please understand, not all women who have breast cancer have had an abortion, but it has been determined to be the most preventable cause of breast cancer! Breast cancer is the leading cancer in women with an estimated 193,700 American women being diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and 40,600 women dying from breast cancer disease each year, yet women are not being told of the connection between abortion and breast cancer. We at Hope Pregnancy Center care about all women. The women who come to us who are experiencing indecision about an unplanned pregnancy as well as those who have chose abortion. We’re here to help them all. For more information about our ministries please visit our website at hopepregnancy.com. For further information about the Abortion/Breast Cancer link visit www.AbortionBreastCancer.com. Another website that may help anyone wanting more information about breaking the silence that surrounds the pain of abortion can go to www.HelpAfterAbortion. com. This is the official site for Silent No More an organization dedicated to conveying the message that abortion does hurt women but that there is help and hope for those who do choose abortion.