Leave it to the Komen Foundation to cite the studies of abortion advocates to deny the A-BC link connecting breast cancer and abortion (“The Ties That Bind,” April 2). Komen has also attempted to justify its association with Planned Parenthood. Giving money to Planned Parenthood to screen women for breast cancer is like giving money to Al Queda to do the exams on Arab women.
The number of breast services extended to women by Planned Parenthood has declined in recent years. During the years 2002 and 2003, the breast exams at Planned Parenthood decreased by more than 141,000 while abortions increased by 14,000. There is no reason to believe that this trend has not continued. It is ludicrous to expect anyone to believe that Planned Parenthood is primarily in the business of helping women by providing mammograms and other services and that only 3 percent of their business is abortion-related.
At this time in Houston, Planned Parenthood is building a six-story abortion clinic, and one whole floor will be for late term abortions. It will be the largest abortion clinic in the Western Hemisphere. As modern prenatal testing becomes more and more widespread, the number of late term abortions will increase. Therefore, the number of women who will experience complications due to these procedures will jump dramatically. It is frightening to know that 22 percent of women in the 30-39 year age group have these problems
The risk of breast cancer increases with even one abortion. Dr. Janet Daling is an abortion proponent whose research contradicted her beliefs. She found that in the general population of women, 12 out of 100 will develop breast cancer. The increased risk for women who never had children was 20 percent; for women who had no children and one or more abortions, this increased risk jumped to 50 percent. Most critically of all, having an early abortion with family history of breast cancer (mother, aunt, or sister) increased the risk of developing breast cancer before the age of 45 by 800 percent. Delayed first birth, always a factor, can complicate things still further.
It is pretentious for the Komen Foundation to make decisions for American women. We should be allowed to decide for ourselves. All facts on both sides of the issue should be released to the public, and women must decide whether or not they feel there is a connection between breast cancer and abortion based on the evidence.
Editor’s note: Rebecca Gibson, communications director for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, did not “cite the studies of abortion advocates to deny the A-BC link connecting breast cancer and abortion.” Gibson cited the National Cancer Institute, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, which determined in 2003 that “abortion is not associated with an increase in breast cancer risk.” The American Cancer Society also concluded in 2007: “Breast cancer is the most common cancer, and is the second leading cancer killer in women. Still, the public is not well-served by false alarms and at the present time, the scientific evidence does not support a causal association between induced abortion and breast cancer.”