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On the 24th January 2005 a court ordered a judgment against an abortion clinic in Portland, Oregon,  for performing an abortion  without informing the patient of psychological risks and increased risk of breast cancer.  The lawsuit against the All Women's Health Services Clinic  was the second of its kind in the US to be successfully prosecuted but the first to obtain a judgment. (In the  first case the plaintiff was offered a settlement before trial.) 

Jonathan Clark, attorney for the 19-year-old plaintiff says  he believes the judgment "makes a pretty powerful statement about the science, indicating the clinic was not willing to argue against the claim that there is a link between abortion and breast cancer.  This case was set to be tried in Multnomah County, which is a very liberal county where folks are inclined to lean towards abortion, but in the trial setting, the science would have come under close scrutiny." 

The clinic made an offer of judgment last year enabling the plaintiff, who was 15 at the time of the May 2001 abortion, to win the lawsuit without a trial and the  judge signed the agreement. The amount of the judgment  is confidential. 

The girl told the clinic that her family had a history of cancer, including her grandmother who had breast cancer, but the clinic never informed her about the possibility of an abortion-breast cancer (ABC) link. They took it upon themselves to decide that this child, who had gone to the clinic without her parents' knowledge or consent, should be kept in the dark. Advising her of such a risk might scare her  from having the abortion. 

The same thing happens every day  to teenagers in Australia - many of whom may not even know their family cancer history.  There is a stubborn refusal by the abortion industry and its  ideological supporters to even mention  that a scientific debate is under way on the  abortion-breast cancer link. 

The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer is an international women's organization founded to protect the health and save the lives of women by educating and providing information on abortion as a risk factor for breast cancer. [Endeavour Forum Inc. is the Coalition's  Australian affiliate].   Karen Malec, president of the Coalition,  applauded the prosecution of the law suit and said  that women in the position of the plaintiff will not receive justice until they file civil  lawsuits.

"Women have been told lies about the research and have been cruelly exploited by two industries -- the breast cancer fund-raising industry and the abortion industry," she said.

This  plaintiff has a family history of breast cancer, which she indicated on the clinic intake forms. 

Mrs. Malec  points to research in 1994 at Seattle's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center by Janet Daling and her colleagues, showing teenagers with a family history of the disease who procure abortions before age 18 have an incalculably high breast cancer risk.  Biological and epidemiological evidence also indicates abortions that occur before the birth of a first child are the most carcinogenic. 

In the process of researching the case, Clark said he came across many media headlines that slanted studies on abortion and breast cancer. "As I read the studies, which we would have tried to bring into evidence [if there had been a trial], they often showed abortion does pose increased risk for breast cancer."

The plaintiff and her attorney, Jonathan Clark, are available for interviews.  Clark can be reached at:  O'Donnell and Clark:    jonathanc@oandc.com

Ph: +503/930-9887 (mobile) and  +503/274-1100 (office)

Karen Malec says scientists agree that overexposure to estrogen is connected to the development of breast cancer. It can occur in breast tissues known as terminal ductal lobular units, which at early age are called Type 1, and some of which mature at puberty into Type 2.  These cells are cancer vulnerable. In the first and second trimester of a pregnancy, a surge of estrogen and other hormones prompts breast growth in preparation for lactation. Later in the pregnancy, these cells become increasingly complex, turning into Type 3 and Type 4 cells. They are more cancer resistant. Logically, then, a woman who carries her child to term has more cancer-resistant breast tissue.  However,  if her pregnancy is interrupted by abortion in the first or second trimester, she is left with more Type 1 and 2 cells, the ones more susceptible to cancer. Logically,  one breast cancer "risk reduction strategy" is not to have an abortion. Another is to breastfeed. 

Planned Parenthood is the major provider of abortion in the US.  PP says the ABC link is "inconclusive",  but its website says:  "While researchers do not know what causes breast cancer, reproductive factors have been associated with risk for the disease since the 17th  Century, when breast cancer was noted to be more prevalent among nuns. It is known that having a full-term pregnancy early in a woman's childbearing years is protective against breast cancer...." 

Why aren't  our pregnant teenagers given this information?   Why aren't they told  that an unwanted pregnancy won't kill them, but breast cancer is the major cause of death in pre-menopausal women and a full-term pregnancy at a young age offers substantial protection? 

On  27 September  2004  Eve Sanchez Silver  resigned her position as a charter member of The  Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation's National Hispanic/Latina Advisory Council (SGK).   She  is the director of Cinta Latina Research. and  a   popular speaker and  medical research analyst working as a breast cancer research advocate with premier U.S. cancer research facilities. She was  motivated to resign after reading  Komen's affiliates have helped fund Planned Parenthood.   "Komen's Faustian relationship with Planned Parenthood doesn't make sense unless you realize it's a good business decision for SGK," asserted Karen Malec.  "Today's abortion customer is more likely to be tomorrow's cancer walker.  If women's lives mattered, then cancer walk businesses would have focused on breast cancer  prevention and denounced abortion and Planned Parenthood two or three decades ago."