Good abortion-related news! -- <font size = "4">The Drunks Bar </font size "4">

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Date Posted: 09:45:35 02/27/03 Thu
Author: NKLS Cody
Subject: Good abortion-related news!

Even the conservative USA Today (same corp. distributes pro-war Military Times) cannot suppress the good news that the "pro-life" lobby is, once again, dead wrong. No association between breast cancer and undergoing a previous abortion can be found!

I don't expect the controversial decision by the Bush misadministration that pressured the NIH to alter their web site to reflect GW's handlers unsubstantiated views on the matter to be reversed without a lawsuit, unfortunately. They just don't work that way over at "the eastern end" of the Bush ranch.

'No breast cancer-abortion link'

Thu Feb 27, 8:00 AM ET

Rita Rubin USA TODAY

BETHESDA, Md. -- At a government-sponsored workshop ending Wednesday, researchers concluded that scientific evidence does not support the notion that having an abortion increases a woman's risk of breast cancer later in life.

A report on the workshop findings will be presented Monday to a panel of scientific advisers at the National Cancer Institute. If the panel approves the findings, the institute will review and update its materials.

Until recently, the institute's Web site had said there was no evidence linking abortion and breast cancer. In late November, though, the institute revised its site to say the evidence is inconclusive.

Critics charged that the Bush administration had given in to abortion opponents, many of whom argue that women considering an abortion should be told it will raise their breast cancer risk. At least three states already require that, and legislators in several others have proposed similar ''right-to-know'' laws.

''The anti-choice activists have the ear of some people in the administration,'' says workshop participant Cynthia Pearson, executive director of the National Women's Health Network, based in Washington, D.C.

True, some studies suggest a link and others don't. But most experts say studies that found a link were flawed. One reason: Breast cancer patients, eager for an explanation, would be more likely to report having had an abortion than healthy women in a comparison group.

Scientists view a study of 1.5 million Danish women, published in 1997, as the last word on the subject because of its size and design. That study found no association. Mads Melbye, lead author of the Danish study, presented unpublished follow-up data at a workshop session that was closed to the press.

In his welcoming remarks Monday evening, institute director Andrew von Eschenbach told the approximately 100 invited attendees that science, not politics, spurred him to convene the workshop. ''I believe it is my responsibility to see that all information provided by institute to the community is scientifically accurate and correct,'' he said.

When the institute posted a fact sheet saying there was no evidence abortion raised breast cancer risk, he said, ''my office began to receive queries and challenges regarding the scientific data and its interpretation.''

When von Eschenbach discovered that there had never been a comprehensive review of the data by scientists outside the institute, he said he decided to rescind the fact sheet and hold the workshop.

''I will not permit our scientific integrity to be compromised,'' he said.

David Reardon, director of the Elliot Institute, a Springfield, Ill., anti-abortion organization focusing on the physical and psychological effects of abortion, called the workshop's conclusion ''clearly an overstatement.''

Reardon, who did not attend the workshop, did agree with another of its findings, that having a full-term pregnancy at a young age protects against breast cancer.

Not that that's a reason to have a baby, Pearson says. ''If we can figure out why (a full-term pregnancy cuts risk), then maybe we can figure out a way to mimic it.''

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