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Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer Challenges LiveScience.com Columnist to Publicly Debate Abortion-Cancer Link

The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer notes that Christopher Wanjek of LiveScience.com labeled the abortion-breast cancer link as a "persistent myth."

"We issue four challenges to Wanjek," declared Karen Malec, president of the Coalition. "First, act like a real scientific expert by participating in a public debate with our experts.

"Second, disprove the biological basis for the link. No scientist has ever refuted it.

"Third, write a letter to the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons explaining why Professor Joel Brind's conclusions in 2005 were erroneous.  1  No expert has ever done so.

"Brind demonstrated that the studies that abortion enthusiasts use to discredit the link are seriously flawed and cannot be used to discredit the larger body of research supporting the link.

"Fourth, write a second letter to that journal explaining why Patrick Carroll's new study published last week is erroneous.  Carroll showed that abortion is the 'best predictor' of breast cancer. 2

"If Wanjek had the slightest care for women, he would have watched the 3-day video of the workshop on the abortion-breast cancer link posted on the U.S. National Cancer Institute's website.  It shows that the workshop was a political sham because scientists never examined the evidence supporting a link.  They only presented the small body of evidence that discredits it.

"No doubt, Wanjek's viewpoint is like that of epidemiologist Leslie Bernstein whom the NCI entrusted to lead its phony workshop," said Malec.  Bernstein told CancerPage.com that:

"The biggest bang for the buck is the first birth and the younger you are the better off you are. I would never be a proponent of going around and telling them that having babies is the way to reduce your risk. I don't want the issue relating to induced abortion to breast cancer risk to be a part of the mix of the discussion of induced abortion, its legality, its continued availability." 3

"Wanjek is either grossly uninformed or else he is a liar," said Malec.  "Why does he hate women?"

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. Brind J. Induced abortion as an independent risk factor for breast cancer: A critical review of recent studies based on prospective data. J Am Phys Surg Vol. 10, No. 4 (Winter 2005) 105-110. Available at: http://www.jpands.org/vol10no4/brind.pdf.
• 2. Carroll, P. The breast cancer epidemic: modeling and forecasts based on abortion and other risk factors." J Am Phys Surg Vol. 12, No. 3 (Fall 2007) 72-78.  Available at: http://www.jpands.org/vol12no3/carroll.pdf.
• 3. NCI Scientific Panel Concludes Abortion Has No Impact on Breast Cancer Risk; March 3, 2003; Rachael Myers Lowe,  http://www.cancerpage.com/news/article.asp?id=5601
  (accessed 9/4/2007).