Dear Pro-Lifers... you're fucking crazy.

Did you know that abortion causes breast cancer? No you didn't because it is simply not true. This is just one of many lies I have heard from the pro-life camp. Given most women are petrified of breast cancer these days, this one seems particularly malicious. 

A woman’s risk for some types of breast cancer is related to hormone levels in the body. Breast cells normally grow and divide in response to hormones like estrogen and progesterone. Levels of these hormones change throughout a woman’s life and there is significant change during pregnancy. When a woman is pregnant, her body gets ready for breast-feeding by altering the levels of these hormones. This will cause changes in the breast tissue.

Concern about a possible link between abortion and breast cancer has been raised because abortion is thought to interrupt the normal cycle of hormones during pregnancy. Some believe that this interruption might increase a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer.

The largest, and probably the most reliable, study on this topic was done during the 1990s in Denmark, a country with very detailed medical records on all its citizens. In this study, Danish women born between 1935 and 1978 were linked with the National Registry of Induced Abortions and with the Danish Cancer Registry. All of the information about their abortions and their breast cancer came from registries; it was very complete and was not influenced by recall bias. (The likelihood that women who have breast cancer will give a more complete account of their abortions than women who do not have breast cancer is an example of recall bias.)

After adjusting for known breast cancer risk factors, the researchers found that induced abortion had no overall effect on the risk of breast cancer. The size of this study and the manner in which it was done provide good evidence that induced abortion does not affect a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer.

Another study, the California Teachers Study reported on more than 100,000 women in 2008. Researchers asked the women in 1995 about past induced and spontaneous abortions. While the women were being followed in the study, more than 3,300 developed invasive breast cancer. There was no difference in breast cancer risk between the group who had either spontaneous or induced abortions and those who had not had an abortion.

In February 2003, the US National Cancer Institute held a workshop of more than one hundred of the world’s leading experts who study pregnancy and breast cancer risk. The experts reviewed human and animal studies that looked at the link between pregnancy and breast cancer risk, including studies of induced and spontaneous abortions. Some of their findings were:

• Breast cancer risk is increased for a short time after a full-term pregnancy (that is, a pregnancy that results in the birth of a living child).

• Induced abortion is not linked to an increase in breast cancer risk.

• Spontaneous abortion is not linked to an increase in breast cancer risk.

The level of scientific evidence for these findings was considered to be “well established” (the highest level).

The issue of abortion generates passionate viewpoints in many people, including me. Breast cancer is the most common cancer, and it is the second leading cancer killer in women. At this time, the scientific evidence does not support the notion that abortion of any kind increases the risk of breast cancer or any other type of cancer.

Where did this come from you ask? In the not too distant past, I was walking along the main street in my city and saw the Pro-Life Society shop front. I almost lost my shit, in fact I did lose my shit. I stomped my feet, I yelled, I swore and I kicked the door. Sadly there was nobody in the place to hear me. You see, in their window were a bunch of pro-life bumper stickers spouting such nonsense as "Choose Life (Your mom did)", "Abortion: The Ultimate Child Abuse", "Slavery, Holocaust, Abortion ; Two Down, One to Go", "93% of Women Regret Their Abortion", "When Environmentalists Start Saving Babies, I'll Start Saving Trees" and of course "ABORTION CAUSES BREAST CANCER"

So Pro-Lifers, where are your fucking legs to stand on? Why are you lying?

Regardless of the reason, if a woman is not ready to be a mother, THAT IS HER CHOICE and nobody else's. Using unsubstantiated facts, religion and/or threats is not going to stop the determined. Look at the amount of kids in foster care and you will see just how many are not ready. In British Columbia alone, there are over 9000 children in foster care. How is this okay? What about the children we don't know about? The ones in abusive homes, neglectful homes and on the streets? 

I've been to the clinic, I've dealt with these people first-hand and there is nothing kind or peaceful about them. They tried to touch me, they pleaded with me and when that didn't work they yelled and swore at me. Trust me when I say I gave it right back to them, even in my delicate state (insert sarcasm here). 

To Pro-lifers, I say this.... If you can't trust me with a choice, how can you trust me with a child?