The Abortion Breast Cancer Link:
Pregnancy & Normal Breast Development
In pregnancy, as estrogen levels elevate, immature milk glands, or lobules, begin to grow and differentiate, reaching maturity around 32 weeks. By birth, the lobules are fully formed and ready for milk production. A full term pregnancy is known to lower a woman’s long term risk of breast cancer.
Abortion Interrupts Breast Development
Abortions, which typically occur in the first or early second trimester, interrupt the process of breast development while estrogen is still surging, urging growth, but before full differentiation has taken place.Thus, the risk-lowering effect of full term pregnancy is lost. Even worse, lobules stuck in this growth stage are susceptible to replication defects, which may eventually manifest themselves as cancers.
Scientific Evidence of Abortion’s Impact
Thirteen out of 17 studies in the U.S. reported more breast cancer among women who chose abortion. A 1996 meta-analysis of all published reports on the incidence of induced abortion and breast cancer appearing in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found, on average, a 30% increased risk.