Image
Debate challenge on ABC link
Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer Challenges CBS News, Health.com to Debate Abortion-Breast Cancer Link
CBS News and Health.com have damaged their credibility by publishing identical statements that falsely claim the abortion-breast cancer (ABC) link is a myth. Therefore, the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer challenges both organizations to debate the ABC link.
"We expect CBS News and Health.com to duck the challenge, just as other organizations have whose leaders would rather see women die of breast cancer than expose the truth that abortion is not safe," said Karen Malec, president of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer. "After behaving like snipers, they cut and run. They should be ashamed of themselves.
"Think," demanded Malec of CBS News and Health.com. "If medical texts and medical authorities say childbearing reduces breast cancer risk, then who has the greater risk - the woman who aborts or the woman who has a baby?"
The websites for both CBS News and Health.com falsely asserted that:
"Myth: Having an abortion raises your risk of getting breast cancer. Reality: Because abortion is believed to disrupt hormone cycles during pregnancy and breast cancer is linked to hormone levels, numerous studies have investigated a causal link⎯but found no conclusive evidence for one." 1 2
The Breast Cancer Prevention Institute reported last week that 53 of 66 epidemiological studies reported an independent link between abortion and breast cancer, meaning that abortion leaves the breasts with more places for cancers to start (in addition to the loss of the protective effect of childbearing). That doesn't count the biological and experimental evidence that supports the link.
National Cancer Institute branch chief Louise Brinton co-authored a 2009 study on use of the birth control pill and triple-negative breast cancer. 3 She and her colleagues included abortion among "known and suspected risk factors" for the disease and found a statistically significant 40% increased breast cancer risk among women who had abortions. They concluded abortion is a risk factor for breast cancer.
"Try to debunk that, CBS News and Health.com," demanded Malec.
The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer is an international women's organization founded to protect the health and save the lives of women by educating and providing information on abortion as a risk factor for breast cancer.
- 1. "25 breast cancer myths busted." Health.com. Available at: http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20533364_24,00.html
- 2. "25 breast cancer myths busted." CBS News. Available at: http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-204_162-10009735-25.html?tag=page
- 3. Dolle J, Daling J, White E, Brinton L, Doody D, et al. Risk factors for triple-negative breast cancer in women under the age of 45 years. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(4)1157-1166. Available at:
