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New Book Reveals Medical Evidence of Link Between Breast Cancer, Abortion and Birth Control PillsA new book by a Pennsylvania physician outlines a strong medical connection between abortion, the birth control pill and the worldwide increase in the breast cancer rate over the last 40 years. Chris Kahlenborn, M.D., graduate of Pennsylvania State Medical University and international lecturer, began his research in 1993 when he attended a professional conference where the speaker asserted that there was a link between abortion and the risk of developing breast cancer. Kahlenborn was skeptical and set out to disprove this claim. But after five years of studying the pertinent medical literature, he found the evidence of such a link nearly indisputable. As of January 1999, 11 of 12 epidemiological studies in the United States and 25 of 31 studies worldwide showed that women who elect to have an induced abortion have an elevated risk of developing breast cancer. And 18 of 20 studies performed since 1980 have shown that women who take oral contraceptives prior to their first full-term pregnancy also have an increased risk of developing breast cancer. In "Breast Cancer: Its Link to Abortion and the Birth Control Pill," Kahlenborn analyzes hundreds of the most respected medical studies conducted since the 1960s that have searched for factors which could explain the increase in the breast cancer rate in women around the world. Medical researchers have noted that the rate of breast cancer has steadily increased over the last four decades, most notably in the more technologically advanced nations. In the United States, nearly one in eight women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. It is the most common cause of cancer death in the United States among women age 20-59, claiming approximately 43,000 lives every year. "Based on the most comprehensive medical evidence available, induced abortion and the birth control pill are both independent risk factors for the development of breast cancer," says Kahlenborn. "The risk is especially great if the woman has participated in either of these factors at a young age." According to Kahlenborn's analysis, the statistical possibilities are alarming. A woman who has an abortion prior to her first full-term pregnancy can have at least a 50 percent increased risk of developing breast cancer. The risk factor goes up if the woman was under age 18 when she had the abortion, if she was at least eight weeks pregnant at the time of the abortion or if she has additional risk factors such as a family history of the disease. A woman who takes the oral contraceptive pill before her first child is born incurs at least a 40 percent increased risk of developing breast cancer. If she has taken the pill for four or more years prior to the birth of her first child, her risk factor increases to 72 percent. Her risk is even higher than that if she has also had an abortion. In the course of his research, Kahlenborn discovered that no matter how formidable the medical evidence, the politics of reproductive issues like abortion and contraception has played a major role in how these medical studies have been presented to the public, and their level of acceptance in the medical community. "Women deserve to have the best medical information available to them," says Kahlenborn. "They should be allowed to judge for themselves if they may be at an increased risk for breast cancer based on their reproductive choices or sexual history. The fact that few women have been informed of the risks, is a very, serious mistake with worldwide implications." The medical reasons for the increased risk factor for breast cancer in women who have had an abortion, especially prior to their first full-term pregnancy, are complicated. Simply stated, it has to do with the maturation process within the cells of the female breast, which is not fully complete until after a woman carries her first pregnancy to term. "When a woman becomes pregnant, she experiences a dramatic increase in hormone levels -- most notably estrogen, progesterone and hCG," says Kahlenborn. "This induces her breast cells to undergo a maturation process called differentiation. If the differentiation process is artificially interrupted by induced abortion, the hormone levels drop suddenly, leaving her breast cells in a transitional state, where they have not completely differentiated. Most cancers begin in immature cells that are not fully differentiated." With regard to the birth control pill, the breast requires a proper balance of the dominant sexual hormones naturally occurring in a woman's body to develop normally. Oral contraceptives are composed of a synthetic estrogen/progestin combination that increase the rate of cell division in the breast, a process known as mitosis. In general, the higher the mitotic rate of a cell, the higher the risk that it will turn into a cancer cell, especially in women whose breast cells have not experienced a full-term pregnancy, and hence, have not completely matured. In addition to abortion and oral contraceptives, Kahlenborn notes that there are many other known risk factors for breast cancer development, such as family history of breast cancer, age at the onset of menses, greater age at first birth, late menopause, postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy, exposure to radiation, a history of other types of cancers, ethnic origin and country of birth. A woman who has a combination of any of these factors in her medical history has a multiplied risk of developing breast cancer. "Women can blunt or even reverse the epidemic of breast and other cancers," says Kahlenborn. "Avoiding the hazardous risks of induced abortion and hormonal contraception could save thousands of lives."
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