Reproductive Choices Impact Breast Cancer Risk
on DECEMBER 4, 2019
The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) alerts parents and youth to the fact that reproductive choices impact young women’s risk for developing breast cancer. Dr. Scott Field, co-author of the ACPeds position statement Reproductive Choices of Young Women Affect Future Breast Cancer Risk stated, “The rising tide of breast cancer seen over the last 50 years might be reversed if young adults would once again prioritize family and children, and nurture their pregnancies to term rather than choosing abortion.”
The incidence of breast cancer has risen dramatically over the last five decades. In 1973, the same year Roe versus Wade legalized induced abortion, the incidence of breast cancer was 82.5 cases per 100,000 women. Today, after some 60 million legally induced abortions, one in eight women is expected to develop breast cancer in their lifetime.
Numerous studies from multiple nations have demonstrated that induced abortion, especially when a woman aborts her first pregnancy or obtains an abortion prior to 32 weeks gestation, interferes with normal breast cell maturation into cancer-resistant cells. Influential medical organizations have relied on studies with significant design flaws to obscure this link. Additional major risk factors for women developing breast cancer include choosing to delay childbearing beyond 30 years of age or choosing to never bear any children.
Conversely, it is well accepted that carrying pregnancies to term and breastfeeding infants are both protective against developing breast cancer. This is because carrying a pregnancy to term and breastfeeding impacts breast cell development such that the cells become cancer-resistant.
Dr. Jane Anderson said, “These reproductive choices are modifiable risk factors for the development of breast cancer. Women have the right to know accurate risk information to shape their reproductive health decisions.”
Full position statement - Reproductive Choices of Young Women Affect Future Breast Cancer Risk