Just this week a study announced that a natural pregnancy hormone, human chorionic gonadotropin, shows promise for preventing breast cancer. According to researchers, HCG activated tumor-suppressor genes that stopped cancer cell growth.
So, if pregnancy hormones work to combat breast cancer, does that mean having an abortion somehow increases the risk?
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There are groups like the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer who insist the answer is "yes." They cite reports dating back to 1986 in which "government scientists wrote a letter to the British Journal Lancet acknowledging that induced abortion before the first term pregnancy increases the risk of breast cancer."
They also frequently cite a 2001 report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, which indicates a 40 percent increase in the cases of breast cancer among women in the generation following Roe v. Wade. They further report on their website that as of 2004, "five medical groups say abortion is one of the causes of the disease."
By stark contrast, Planned Parenthood the nation's leading abortion provider slams the theory as blatantly false. According to Dr. Vanessa Cullins, vice president for medical affairs at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, "There is no truth to this [theory] at all. It is one of those nasty myths invented by anti-choice organizations to frighten women away from having an abortion."
Most notably stuck in the middle of this debate is the Susan G. Komen Foundation. This is the foundation that uses events such as the famous "Race for the Cure" to raise money to fight breast cancer. According to its website, the Komen Foundation works "through a network of U.S. and international affiliates … to eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease by funding research grants and supporting education, screening and treatment projects in communities around the world."
The problem is the Komen Foundation uses some of its funds to support Planned Parenthood. This raises the question whether the Komen Foundation has literally struck a deal with the devil. It also creates a possible dilemma for pro-lifers who support breast cancer research through the Komen Foundation.
The fact is local chapters of the Komen Foundation supplied nearly half a million dollars in grants to local Planned Parenthood affiliates in 2003. They have also continued to fund Planned Parenthood in 2004 with plans for continued support in 2005.
When complaints began to emerge a few years back about funding Planned Parenthood, the Komen Foundation defiantly circled the wagons by announcing their resolve to continue funding the abortion provider.
The question is: "If it is even possible that abortions are linked to increased risk of breast cancer, what could be the logic for Komen's support of Planned Parenthood?"
One very sick and twisted explanation is simply that it's good business. It could be that today's abortion clients are tomorrow's breast cancer patients and therefore future fund-raisers for the Komen Foundation. In this scenario, abortions would simultaneously secure future clients and contributors. This possibility not only boggles but blows the mind.
There is simply no illness that touches our lives and hearts like breast cancer. Having battled with another form of cancer, I find few women more inspiring than those who have beaten the illness. So I am incensed at the possible Faustian relationship between the Komen Foundation and Planned Parenthood.
Abortion kills. Thanks to advances in technology like the human genome project and 4D ultrasound, everyone knows that abortion ends the life of an unborn baby. There is also a strong case made that abortion kills the spirit of women who have them whether consciously or subconsciously. The plain question before us is whether it is also taking the life of women physically through breast cancer.
Surely it is time we put politics aside and got at the truth of abortion, its effects and its relationship to breast cancer. Or shall we close our eyes to the strong possibility that abortion providers take the life of children in one room while holding out hope for life through breast cancer education, treatment and screening in the next?
Regardless of the answers, I cannot in good conscious support the Komen Foundation. This is a difficult decision because I have a good friend battling breast cancer and running in the Komen Foundation's "Race for a Cure." But I cannot support life and death at the same time by funneling money to Planned Parenthood.