Abortion/Breast Cancer Coalition Says Veto Will Harm Women's Health

An Illinois-based coalition, whose purpose is to educate women about the 27 out of 33 worldwide studies which have implicated abortion as a risk factor for breast cancer, contended that Governor George Ryan's veto of a bill banning taxpayer-funded abortions, will prove to be detrimental to the health of Illinois women.

"Governor Ryan has been informed by a physician and by this coalition that nearly three dozen studies have linked induced abortion with breast cancer" said Mrs. Karen Malec, coordinator of the coalition. He is also aware that other studies have associated abortion with premature births. His veto is a great disservice to women and their children.

Dr. Joel Brind, President of the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute in Poughkeepsie, New York, has conservatively estimated that an additional 5,000 to 8,000 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed yearly among American women because of previous abortions and that in twenty years there will be an additional 40,000 to 50,000 cases diagnosed yearly. 

Mrs. Malec reported that "The average American woman already faces a 12% risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer. Abortion elevates that risk by 30% for the general population. Based on a 25% mortality rate and approximately 800,000 women who have abortions yearly, it is estimated that 1 in 100 women die of breast cancer due to their abortions."

"Actions speak louder than words," said Mrs. Malec. "Governor Ryan cannot truthfully represent himself as someone who is concerned about the health and well-being of women when he increases the accessibility of abortion by subsidizing the abortion industry."