Reviewed by Wanda Franz, Ph.D.
NRLC President
The pro-life movement has a wonderful new tool for use in educating the public about the negative effects of abortion on women. It is a new video developed by two of the most well-known individuals in the field of the abortion/breast cancer link: Dr. Angela Lanfranchi, M.D., FACS, a breast surgeon, and Dr. Joel Brind, Ph.D., a professor of human biology and endocrinology.
As professionals, they have become convinced that their specialties provide ample evidence of the link between abortion and breast cancer. However, they also recognize that their professional colleagues have been unwilling to publicize this important public health issue.
They have courageously stepped forward to bring this information to the public. Now they can reach many more people through the use of their new video, if the pro-life movement steps up and makes full use of this excellent tool.
The video, entitled The ABC Link: What Every Woman Has the Right to Know, is technically excellent and is narrated by Brita Stream, Miss Oregon 2002. Her presence in the video provides a great deal of warmth and a personal touch. She represents the generation of young women rightfully concerned about the rising cost of breast cancer to American women. Miss Stream chose the abortion/breast cancer link as the project she wanted to promote during her year serving as Miss Oregon. She is a wonderful representative to include in the video.
The video gives a complete but understandable scientific explanation of the abortion/breast cancer link. Dr. Joel Brind addresses the fact that the epidemiological research has demonstrated that abortion is one of the risk factors for breast cancer. It meets the six criteria required to allow researchers to assume that abortion is a causative factor.
First, the risk factor (abortion) always occurs before the resulting cancer occurs. Second, an association has been demonstrated. Third, the association is statistically significant. Fourth, the association is a strong one for girls and young women who have not yet had any children. Fifth, it is possible to show that the more abortions a woman has, the greater her risk. Sixth, there is a biological explanation for the link.
It is this last point which helps to make this video so powerful. Dr. Angela Lanfranchi gives a clear, easy-to-understand, biological explanation using drawings of the breast.
The parts of the breast that give rise to cancer are the lobules, which are designed to develop into milk-producing systems for the purpose of breast-feeding. Before pregnancy, the lobules are in an early, primitive form referred to as Type 1 and Type 2 stages of development.
When a woman becomes pregnant, the estrogen surge that occurs in early pregnancy causes the lobules to grow by making the cells multiply. At this stage they remain vulnerable to carcinogens. They remain in that state until after 32 weeks of pregnancy when they mature into type 3 and type 4 lobules, in preparation to create milk for the use of the new baby.
When a woman has an abortion, because the lobules are not allowed to complete their development, the process does not come to final closure. Instead, the cells of the lobules remain undifferentiated and vulnerable to carcinogens, and are more likely to give rise to cancerous tumors. Since this is a slow process, it often takes many years or decades. It is clear why women who abort their first pregnancy are at greatest risk for breast cancer because they have never had the protective experience of carrying a baby to term.
The scientific explanations are interwoven in the video with the stories of real women who have had the experience of developing cancer following one or more abortions. They put a face on the problem and give the video a personal and touching quality. These courageous women who have come forward are from different backgrounds and can appeal to many different women who might see the video.
Dr. Brind explains that 5% of all breast cancer cases are caused by abortion. Since there are 260,000 cases of breast cancer each year, this means that 13,000 of the cancers are abortion-related.
In 1970 one in every 12 women developed breast cancer. Today, the numbers are one in every 8 women. This serious problem deserves honest factual examination.
You can help to spread the word by making this video available as widely as possible. It might help to prevent an abortion that would lead to cancer or it might help an at-risk woman get help earlier when a cure is most likely.
The ABC link video runs 26 minutes and is now available from the BCPI web site at www.bcpinstitute.org or by calling the toll-free phone number: 1-866-622-6237 (1-86-NO CANCER).