ENDEAVOUR FORUM NEWSLETTER No. 119, FEBRUARY 2003

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"When Abortion Kills Twice: The Breast Cancer Link" was the stark title of an article in the September 2002 issue of the US magazine, CRISIS. The article described the work of Professor Joel Brind and Dr. Angela Lanfranchi of the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute, (BCPI) New York. Professor Brind lectured in Australia and New Zealand three years ago on the hormonal mechanism and statistical data supporting the abortion-breast cancer link. In February 2003 Endeavour Forum Inc. and a number of organisations in Australia and New Zealand (see back page) are sponsoring a lecture tour by Dr. Lanfranchi, a breast surgeon practising in New Jersey, who became concerned about the abortion-breast cancer link when she saw many young women with breast cancer who also had a history of abortion. Dr. Lanfranchi is now a Director of BCPI, and the Australian edition of the Institute's booklet, "Breast Cancer Risks & Prevention" is enclosed.

There is no vaccine as yet which can immunize women from breast cancer, but there is action women can take to reduce their risk. However, they will not get information on risk reduction from our publicly funded anti-cancer organisations. Their focus is entirely on early diagnosis and treatment, which are essential, but prevention and risk reduction are totally overlooked. Indeed the Cancer Council of Victoria is positively misleading when in its booklet "Breast Cancer - A Guide for Women" it states under 'Myths': "Breastfeeding will not cause breast cancer nor will it protect you from it". Such a statement ignores World Health Organisation data from the seventies as well as the major study published in Lancet, 20 July 02 which showed that early motherhood, more babies and prolonged breastfeeding substantially reduces breast cancer risk.

The link with abortion is obvious - every abortion delays motherhood, reduces the number of children and eliminates the ability to breastfeed that baby - and that's not even taking into account the independent risk due to the abortion itself, the breast cell proliferation caused by high levels of estrogen in early pregnancy without the stabilizing effect of breast cell differentiation of late pregnancy.

Thirty years ago when Roe v. Wade (which legalized abortion in the US) was decided, Dr. Lanfranchi was a medical student and she learned that l out of 12 women in the United States would develop breast cancer. Twenty years after Roe v. Wade Dr. Lanfranchi was in a surgical practice devoted to breast cancer, and the incidence had increased dramatically to 1 out of 8. In Australia the incidence increased 40% between 1987 and 1997, approximately thirty years after the de facto legalization of abortion through the Menhennitt (Victoria) and Levine (NSW) judicial rulings. The incidence is now l out of 11 women and still rising, although other major cancers are declining. Our Cancer Councils have no coherent explanation. They are incoherent because, afraid of a feminist backlash, they will not publicize reproductive factors such as early motherhood, more babies, more breastfeeding and NO abortions.

Dr. Lanfranchi has generously given her time to inform Australian and New Zealand women how they can reduce the risk of this terrible disease, so make sure you hear her speak, and circulate her booklet. (Extra copies available)

Member Organisation, World Council for Life and Family

NGO in Special Consultative Status with ECOSOC of the UN