Abortion
Defining Abortion
Adapted from the Catholic News Agency
The term "abortion" actually refers to any premature expulsion of a human fetus, whether naturally spontaneous, as in a miscarriage, or artificially induced, as in a surgical or chemical abortion. Today, the most common usage of the term "abortion" applies to artificially induced abortion, which is the subject of this pamphlet.
The vast majority of all abortions performed today are done for social, not medical reasons -- because a woman doesn’t feel ready for a baby at the time, because her partner wants her to have an abortion, etc. Approximately 93% of all induced abortions are done for elective, non-medical reasons such as these.
Abortion ends a pregnancy by destroying and removing the developing child. That baby’s heart has already begun to beat by the time the mother misses her period and begins to wonder if she might be pregnant (about 31 days after the mother’s last menstrual period or LMP). Surgical abortions are usually not performed before seven weeks, or 49 days LMP. By that time, the baby has identifiable arms and legs (day 45) and displays measurable brain waves (about 40 days). During the seventh through the tenth weeks, when the majority of abortions are performed, fingers and genitals appear and the child’s face is recognizably human.
Types of Abortion
Click on the links below for more info.
> Vacuum Aspiration Abortion
> Dilation and Evacuation (D&E)
> Late Term Induction Abortion
> Medical Abortion
Vacuum aspiration
This procedure uses suction to remove the fetus from the uterus. You may feel some cramping because your uterus will contract as the fetus is removed.
You may need to stay at the clinic for up to a few hours afterward to ensure the abortion is complete.
Side effects, and risks
Side effects after a vacuum aspiration procedure can include:
- bleeding or spotting
- cramps
- nausea
- sweating
- dizziness
Vacuum aspiration abortion has a small risk of infection. Your provider may prescribe you an antibiotic to help reduce infection risk.
Dilation and evacuation (D&E)
D&E is often used a bit later on in pregnancy. It uses a combination of vacuum aspiration, forceps, and dilation and curettage (D&C).
To start, the provider dilates (or widens) your cervix to make it easier to remove the fetus. They may have you take misoprostol and/or mifepristone, medications that help soften the uterus and cause it to contract, to help with that.
Then, they will use forceps to remove the fetus and placenta, a tube to suction out the uterus, and a scoop-like instrument called a curette to scrape out the uterine lining.
You’ll have this procedure in a hospital or a clinic. A D&E can be painful, your provider can give you numbing medicines or local anesthesia and will likely send you home with prescription pain medication.
The procedure generally takes less than 30 minutes. You can go home the same day, but as with many surgeries, you may need to wait at the clinic for a while to ensure you’re doing OK.
Safety, side effects, and risks
D&E is the preferred choice for ending a pregnancy that has progressed to the second trimester.
Side effects from a D&E can include:
- bleeding
- cramping
- breast engorgement or lactation
- nausea, diarrhea, or vomiting
- chills
Infection, perforation, and excessive bleeding or hemorrhage are also possible.
Late term Induction Abortion
Reprinted with Permission from Operation Rescue
The induction abortion with the use of digoxin injection was pioneered by late-term abortionist George R. Tiller of Wichita, Kansas, and is now widely used throughout the United States by the few abortionists who are willing to admit they do the late-term procedures. It has replaced the live partial birth abortion method since the Partial Birth Abortion Ban act was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in April, 2007.
In videos obtained by Operation Rescue, Tiller is seen describing this particular abortion method, known as the MOLD Technique, which is an acronym for the four products employed in the abortion process: Misoprostol, Oxytocin, Laminaria, and Digoxin.
Currently, this late-term abortion process is in use in pregnancies as late as 35 weeks. It is used when the baby grows too large to make dismemberment (Dilation and Evacuation or D&E) abortions impractical due to the calcification of bones and development of ligaments and musculature in the growing baby’s body.
“We think the process is safe. Nothing is perfect.” – George Tiller
The Induction abortion takes 3-4 days to complete. On the first day the woman is given an ultrasound to determine the gestational age of her baby. Then, with the aid of the ultrasound to guide the abortionist, a lethal dose of the heart medication Digoxin is injected into the baby’s heart or into the amniotic fluid directly through the woman’s abdomen. (Potassium chloride is infrequently substituted for Digoxin.) Digoxin gives the baby a fatal heart attack. This is an off-label application of the drug, which was originally developed and approved as a treatment for heart disease. In some cases, the injection can be made vaginally instead of through the abdomen.
In a video shown to abortion patients, Tiller discussed the fatal injection:
“Although you may find this a little difficult and a little uncomfortable, on the first day that you arrive at the clinic we will make an injection of a medication called digoxin into the fetus to initiate fetal demise.”
Tiller elaborates on his reasons for killing the baby before beginning the surgical abortion procedure.
“The first reason is so that there will be no fetal pain. We — we have learned with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of patients that women have the question about, ‘Will this be painful for our baby? Will this be painful for my baby?’ And the answer to that is ‘no.’ We make an injection directly into the fetus with a medication called digoxin on the day that you arrive so that the baby will expire painlessly. The first reason is no fetal pain.”
However, those who have experienced massive heart attacks, describe them as extremely painful and frightening. It is well documented that babies in the later stages of pregnancy can feel pain, and at least one study indicates that babies as young as 6-8 weeks gestation may experience pain.
While the concept that a late-term baby can feel pain is often disputed in the press and by abortion supporters, it is obvious that Tiller believed that late second and third trimester pre-born babies can feel pain, and thus used his lethal fetal injection as a means of allaying the concerns of abortion patients.
But the most important reason for killing the baby first is to avoid a live birth. This prevents myriad of problems for the abortionists, including running afoul of state and federal laws protecting the life of the baby after a live birth, even if the birth is the result of an abortion.
After the Digoxin injection, the woman’s cervix is packed with laminaria, thin tampon-like sticks made of seaweed that expand the cervix gradually over the next day. The drug Misoprostol is also administered vaginally to “ripen” the cervix for the upcoming delivery of the dead baby.
Misoprostol is a drug that was originally manufactured to treat stomach ulcers. Its use in abortions is an off-label application not approved by the FDA. Misoprostol stimulates uterine contractions which are unpredictable and sometimes violent.
After the first day’s injection and cervical preparation, the patient is sent home or to a local hotel where she will remain unmonitored until her appointment at the clinic the following day.
On Day 2 of the procedure, the woman is repacked with larger laminaria sticks and given additional Misoprostol to prepare the woman for labor. The Misoprostol may be administered both vaginally or bucally (between the cheek and jaw), depending on whether delivery is expected on Day 3 or 4. If the woman is undergoing a later, 4 day process, she will return on Day 3 for additional laminaria and Misoprostol. Each day until delivery, she is sent back to her hotel where she remains unmonitored, even though active labor had begun or was in progress.
Sometimes, women cannot be able to get to the clinic in time and deliver their dead babies in the hotel, in vehicles, or other places were medical assistance is nonexistent. Tiller admitted so much in an video he produced for the purpose of introducing prospective abortion patients to the late-term abortion process.
“At Women’s Health Care Services, our late elective abortion program involves managing the pregnancy by the premature delivery of a stillborn.” – George Tiller
On the final day of the abortion, the woman is given the drug Oxytocin, which induces or augments contractions and the onset of labor. Women then are placed in a room where they endure the final stage of labor process. When it is determined that the labor has progressed to the point where the baby is about to be delivered, each woman is usually taken into a room with a toilet and told to lean on the nurse and push the baby into the toilet.
The toilet delivery method is used by a number of abortionists, including Florida abortionist James Pendergraft. Other abortionists may allow the woman to deliver on a delivery table. Still others, such as former Michigan abortionist Alberto Hodari, prefer to remove the dead baby through dismemberment.
Once the dead baby is delivered, the woman is given a procedure called Dilation and Curettage, or D&C. Here, a sharp edged spoon-shaped instrument is used to remove the remaining tissue, such as the afterbirth, from the uterus.
After the abortion, or the following day, the woman is given what Tiller’s employees called the “Party Pack,” which includes abortion aftercare instructions and a prescription for birth control pills. They are then released to return home.
Other abortionists have responded publicly to the increased use in the Induction abortion with digoxin injection method and its dangers.
The now retired Michigan abortionist Alberto Hodari preferred to dismember live babies between 18 and 24 weeks. He told the Detroit News on July 30, 2007, “It was much simpler and much less dangerous than what we are doing now. But this is now the law. It’s awful. It’s unnecessary. It’s dangerous. It’s more complicated. It makes the woman go through another procedure that’s not necessary. It impacts everything we do after 18 weeks.” Hodari began using the injections even though he considers them dangerous.
“We do not believe that our patients should take a risk for which the only clear benefit is a legal one to the physician,” abortionist Philip D. Darney, Director Emeritus at the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, which pushes a depopulation agenda around the world, told the Boston Globe on August 10, 2007. He has chosen not to use the injections.
Complications from lethal fetal injections are well known. In Orlando, Florida, the misuse of Digoxin resulted in the live birth of Baby Rowan, who died after abortion clinic workers denied him medical care. In Wichita, Kansas, Tiller’s needle slipped, and Baby Sarah was injected in the head with a toxic drug that was a precursor to digoxin. She survived and was later adopted, but suffered a malady of medical problems. She died five years later from complications to the injuries she received as a result of the injection.
“But frankly, debate over digoxin/dead baby abortions versus live baby abortions is absurd. The result is still a dead baby. Both procedures are barbaric and hold serious risks to women,” said Operation Rescue Senior Police Advisor Cheryl Sullenger. “The act of killing a pre-born baby is in itself immoral and until we can come to grips with that as a society, we never be able to value life as we should.”
RISKS INCREASE WITH LATE-TERM ABORTIONS
Women also run additional risks when submitting to this abortion procedure. For every week that passes, abortion risks to women’s health and life increase.
One woman suffered a ruptured uterus during a 35-week abortion done by Shelley Sella in Albuquerque, who ignored the patient’s medical history of a previous Cesarean Section delivery for which the use of Misoprostol is contraindicated. Sella was charged by the New Mexico Medical Board for gross negligence in this case, but escaped punishment.
Christin Gilbert, 19, and Jennifer Morbelli, 29, died from complications to third-trimester abortions done by LeRoy Carhart. Both women suffered a complication known as disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), a blood clotting disorder that leads to massive hemorrhage. Gilbert may also have suffered from sepsis, a live-threatening blood infection. Morbelli’s complications included an amniotic embolism, which is a treatable condition if caught in time.
There is rising concern that the entire Induction process as practiced by Sella, Carhart, and others, is too dangerous for use in outpatient clinics since women who have begun the surgical abortion process are left unmonitored outside the clinic for long periods of time without access to immediate emergency care.
Dr. Gerald L. Bullock, a Texas Obstetrician and Gynecologist considered an expert in the field, has expressed his professional opinion that the process violates the standards of patient care because if fails to follow the accepted protocols set forth by the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Hospital whistleblower describes horrific injuries to 25-week botched abortions
In 2020, a whistle-blower from a local hospital came forward to describe two the gruesome to two women who received late-term abortions at LeRoy Carhart’s C.A.R.E. clinic in Bethesda, Maryland — one on May 12, 2020, and the other on May 21, 2020. Both women, who were 25 weeks pregnant, suffered from large holes that were torn in their wombs during the abortions. Both were hospitalized for several days, underwent emergency surgery, and received multiple units of blood to save their lives. [Read the full report substantiating documents.]
According to the whistleblower, those involved in treating the woman involved in the May 12 medical emergency were so upset by what they saw that the surgeon witnessed the need to send out an e-mail to the hospital staff acknowledging their trauma while caring for this woman.
This hospital worker described the injuries to the second woman who was hospitalized on May 21, 2020, as “the most horrific thing I have ever seen.”
Medical Abortions
RU-486, sometimes known as "medication abortion," or otherwise chemical abortion. (medication is usually supposed to help heal the body). The process begins by taking the first pill (Mifepristone /RU486) with the purpose of cutting off progesterone, which weakens the uterine wall and cuts off nutrients to the baby, thus causing the death of the baby.
The second pill, Misoprostol, is taken 24 - 48 hours later which stimulates contractions to expel the dead child.
Walgreens, CVS Parmacy, and Rite Aid have all applied to carry the abortion pill.
Info and Facts About Abortion
Have questions? Click on each link below to learn more.
Is Abortion Ever Necessary in the Case of Rape?
Is Planned Parenthood a Health Clinic For Women?
Has Legalizing Abortion Saved the Lives of Women?
Is It True Abortion Increases the Risk of Suicide?
The Morning After Pill - Abortion or Suicide
A Contraception Culture Led to More Abortions
Quick Abortion Facts
Abortion in the United States is legal through all nine months of pregnancy.
More than 4.400 surgical abortions are performed every day in this country.
Countless lives are also lost through chemical abortions, ie: RU 486, Plan B, the pill, emergency contraception, etc., which go unreported.
FETAL DEVELOPMENT AND TYPES OF ABORTION
Fertilization through twelve weeks:
At 18 days a baby's heart starts beating. At 40 days brain waves can be detected. By 8 weeks, the major organs are formed. By 3 months, the baby can suck his thumb, perform a somersault, respond to touch, hiccup, and grasp an object. He's 2 1/2 inches long. The most common types of abortion at this stage of fetal development are:
Chemical contraceptives as listed above. These chemicals act on the lining of the uterus, making it hostile to implantation of the fertilized egg.
Manual vacuum aspiration. Using ultrasound to locate the baby, a catheter connected to a syringe is inserted into the mother's uterus and the baby is sucked out of the womb.
Suction aspiration. The mother's cervix is dilated and a hollow tube with a knife-like tip is inserted into the uterus. A suction machine rips the baby apart and sucks him into a bottle.The baby is then pieced back together, like a puzzle, to make sure nothing is left in the uterus.
Dilation and curettage. A loop-shaped, steel knife is inserted into the uterus, slicing the baby to pieces. Both the baby and the placenta are then scraped into a bowl. Again, all pieces of the baby are accounted for.
Four to six months:
The baby is 8 - 12 inches long and weighs about one pound. The brain has begun maturing. She can hear sounds like her mother's voice and heartbeat. Her taste buds are now working. Her movements are strong enough to be felt by the mother. Fine hair begins to grow on the scalp, eyebrows and eyelids. An abortion at this stage of development would be as follows:
Dilation and evacuation. The mother's cervix is dilated. An instrument that resembles pliers is inserted into the mother's uterus and is used to twist and rip the limbs from the torso, crush the baby's head and spine, and then remove the pieces from the mother's uterus.
Saline injection. A 20% saline solution is injected into the mother's uterus. The baby breathes and swallows the caustic solution and dies a slow, painful death due to salt poisoning. The mother goes into labor within a day or two and delivers a badly burned, dead baby.
Intracardiac injection. Primarily used for "pregnancy reduction" when the mother is carrying two or more babies, but doesn't want to give birhth to all of them.Using ultrasound to pinpoint the baby's heart, the doctor injects fluid directly into the baby's heart causing an immediate heart attack.
Seven months to Birth:
The baby begins to use all of her senses. She can hear, taste, yawn, cough, and hiccup. Her eyelids open and close and she looks around. Her grip is stronger. She continues to gain weight and her lungs become fully developed. Although partial-birth abortion has been banned in the United States, late-term abortions are still legal. The most common type of abortion at this stage of development is Dilation and Evacuation, as described above.
This information adapted from brochures by the American Life League.
Is Abortion Best for Women in the Case of Rape?
The Elliot Institute surveyed 192 women who conceived during a rape or incest (164 women were raped and 28 were victims of incest). Of those victims, 69 percent carried the baby to term and either raised the child or made an adoption plan, 29 percent had an abortion, and 1.5 percent had a miscarriage. They found that nearly 80 percent of the women who aborted said that abortion was the wrong solution; 43 percent of these women said they felt pressure to abort from family members or health workers.
Is Abortion Ever Necessary to Save the Life of the Mother
“As an OB/GYN physician for 31 years, there is no medical situation that requires aborting/killing the baby in the third trimester to ‘save the mother’s life. Just deliver the baby by C-section and the baby has 95+% survival with readily available NICU care even at 28 weeks,” he said. “C-section is quicker and safer than partial birth abortion for the mother.”
~ Dr. Lawrence Koning of Corona, California
Is RU-486 Safe?
In this type of non-surgical abortion the first pill called mifepristone is given at the Planned Parenthood or other abortion clinic and is used up until 9 weeks of pregnancy. Mifepristone counteracts the natural pregnancy hormone progesterone, which is critical to maintaining a pregnancy. Without progesterone the placenta fails, cutting off oxygen and nutrition to the baby, resulting in his/her death. The patient leaves the clinic after the first pill and is instructed to take the second pill, misoprostol, 36 to 72 hours later. Misoprostol causes the contractions which will then expel the dead baby within several hours or a few days. RU-486 is advertised as a very safe abortion method, but when a San Francisco abortion clinic administered the pill to 18-year-old Holly Patterson, she suffered the ultimate abortion complication. Holly died a week later from a massive infection as a result of fragments of the fetus left inside her uterus which caused her to go into septic shock.
When Does Life Begin?
Science teaches without reservation that life begins at fertilization (conception). It is a scientific fact that an organism exists after fertilization that did not exist before. This new organism has its own DNA distinct from the mother and father, meaning that it is a unique person. As the embryo grows, it develops a heartbeat (22 days after fertilization), its own circulatory system, and its own organs. From fertilization, it is a new organism that is alive and will continue to grow and develop as long as nutrition is provided and its life is not ended through violence or illness.
Artistic metal representation of DNA double-helix structure.
It is indisputably human, as it has human DNA.
The offspring of two members of a species is always the same type of creature as the parents. No two dogs will ever conceive and give birth to a cat; no fish egg will ever produce a snake. According to all the laws of nature, the preborn baby is human.
Scientific textbooks proclaim this fact. Keith L. Moore’s The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology (7th edition, Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 2003) states the following:
A zygote [fertilized egg] is the beginning of a new human being. Human development begins at fertilization, the process during which a male gamete … unites with a female gamete or oocyte … to form a single cell called a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marks the beginning of each of us as a unique individual.
“Zygote” is a scientific term for the new life that is created when the sperm and the egg combine. “Oocyte” is another term for the egg cell, the cell released by woman’s ovary, which travels down the Fallopian tube and is fertilized by the male sperm.
The author of this scientific textbook, Keith L. Moore, is a world-renowned embryologist. He has written a number of definitive books on embryology, and his scientific knowledge and experience are vast and beyond reproach. Few medical students can complete their careers without studying from his textbooks.
Moore puts it even more plainly in Before We Are Born: Essentials of Embryology (7thedition, Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 2008, p. 2):
[The zygote], formed by the union of an oocyte and a sperm, is the beginning of a new human being.
Here is an example from another scientific work.
From Human Embryology & Teratology (Ronan R. O’Rahilly, Fabiola Muller [New York: Wiley-Liss, 1996], 5-55):
Fertilization is an important landmark because, under ordinary circumstances, a new, genetically distinct human organism is thereby formed[.]
This third embryology textbook is as clear as the first two – fertilization is the beginning of new life and the start of a new, distinct human organism.
From T.W. Sadler, Langman’s Medical Embryology (10th edition, Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2006, p. 11):
Development begins with fertilization, the process by which the male gamete, the sperm, and the femal gamete, the oocyte, unite to give rise to a zygote.
And in another source (Ronan O’Rahilly and Fabiola Miller, Human Embryology and Teratology [3rd edition, New York: Wiley-Liss, 2001, p. 8]):
Although life is a continuous process, fertilization … is a critical landmark because, under ordinary circumstances, a new genetically distinct human organism is formed when the chromosomes of the male and female pronuclei blend in the oocyte.
Is Planned Parenthood a Health Clinic?
In 2011, abortions made up 92% of Planned Parenthood’s pregnancy services, while prenatal care and adoption referrals accounted for only 7% (28,674) and 0.6% (2,300), respectively. For every adoption referral, Planned Parenthood performed 145 abortions.
Source: From the SBA List breakdown of the numbers from the PPFA annual report
Planned Parenthood’s role in serving women’s health is compromised at best, and is better taken over by others. Planned Parenthood’s supporters cite its “cervical and breast cancer screenings”16 -- but its heavily promoted contraceptive services, over a third of all PPFA’s activity, is associated with an increased risk of breast and cervical cancer.17 Planned Parenthood’s “screening” for breast cancer is a preliminary screen that a woman can do for herself – it offers no mammograms or biopsies.18 PPFA emphasizes its testing and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases19 – but it heavily promotes contraceptive methods that may increase women’s risk of contracting STDs, including AIDS.20 Women’s comprehensive health needs are much better served by community health centers and other federally qualified health centers, which serve 22 million patients in both urban and rural areas and outnumber Planned Parenthood clinics 13 to 1 (9,170 to 700).21
Source: Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities; Planned Parenthood: Setting the Record Straight
Planned Parenthood provides 16 times more abortions than birth-oriented services. While PPFA says abortions make up 3% of its services, this is misleading. PPFA says it served 2.7 million patients (women and men) and performed 327,653 abortions, indicating that 12% of everyone entering a Planned Parenthood clinic receives an abortion. And PPFA provided only 18,684 “prenatal services” and 1,880 referrals for adoptions at other agencies. So 94% of its services for pregnant women are abortions, outnumbering other options 16 to 1.3
Source: Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities 2015 Pg. 1
Do Abortions Ever Fail?
Unfortunately babies are born alive and left to die more often then the abortion industry would like us to know. Many nurses have come forward to speak about their witness to this horrific action done against babies. Holly O'Donnell, a former blood and tissue procurement technician for the biotech startup StemExpress, gave her testimony about the babies being born alive. Holly also explained a painful memory in which she was asked to harvest an intact brain from the late-term, male fetus whose heart was still beating after the abortion.
Is Planned Parenthood "Pro-Choice?"
Planned Parenthood is not “pro-choice” for women.
In light of the failure of contraceptive programs to reduce unintended pregnancies or abortions, Planned Parenthood has increasingly promoted “LARCs” (long-acting reversible contraceptives) – implantables, injectables, and intrauterine devices – that can sterilize women for months or years at a time.12 Most women have rejected these methods in the past due to their inflexibility and side effects.13 But supporters favor them because they are “independent from… user motivation and adherence”14 – that is, they disregard a woman’s own changing reproductive goals, and cannot be discontinued without medical assistance. PPFA has even abandoned “pro-choice” as a slogan -- insisting instead that contraception and abortion are basic “health care” that all women need access to (whether women ask for that or not).15
Source: Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities; Panned Parenthood: Setting the Record Straight
Has Legalizing Abortion Saved the Lives of Women?
NO.
It is misleading to say that pre-Roe illegal abortions were performed by "back-alley butchers" with rusty coat hangers. While president of Planned Parenthood, Dr. Mary Calderone pointed out in a 1960 American Journal of Health article that Dr. Kinsey showed in 1958 that 84% to 87% of all illegal abortions were performed by licensed physicians in good standing. Dr. Calderone herself concluded that "90% of all illegal abortions are presently done by physicians."(1) It seems that the vast majority of the alleged "back-alley butchers" eventually became the "reproductive health providers" of our present day.
Source: Illegal Abortion Myths, By Dr. Frank Beckwith
(1)Mary Calderone, "Illegal Abortion as a Public Health Problem," in American Journal of Health 50 (July 1960):949
More then 400 women have died from legal abortions since 1973.
Abortion Increases the Risk of Suicide
Two studies from Finland(1) show that women who had abortions were 6 to 7 times more likely to commit suicide than women who gave birth.
Source: Sarah Terzo, lifesite.com
What is the “Morning After Pill” (MAP)?
The Morning After Pill contains a high dosage of the hormone progestin, and when used as directed, prevents or ends pregnancy. It is marketed as an “emergency contraceptive.” It is also known as Plan B.
How is MAP taken?
It is designed to be taken in two doses. The first pill is supposed to be taken within the first 72 hours after intercourse, followed by the second pill 12 hours later.
How does MAP work?
Here is what it does to your body:
•Suppresses ovulation (female egg production in the ovary).
•Thickens mucus in your cervix which blocks sperm passage.
•Irritates your uterus lining, making it hostile to implantation, resulting
in abortion.
So, is MAP contraception or abortion?
Yes. You’re never sure, because MAP works as a contraceptive by suppressing ovulation. However, if you have conceived, it effectively ends the life of your child, as described above. That’s why the chemicals in morning-after pills (high-dosages of the hormone progestin) are properly identified as “abortifacients.”
Hold on, the FDA and Planned Parenthood say that MAP is not an abortifacient.
What gives?
When does human life begin? Check out highly regarded textbooks on embryology.4,5,6 They say it is when the sperm and ovum, neither of which can sustain life or direct growth by itself, come together at fertilization. For the first time the new life has all 46 chromosomes and all the directions (DNA) it needs for the rest of life. The sex of the baby, the color of the hair, everything is already fixed.
The FDA and Planned Parenthood simply redefined the beginning of life from fertilization to implantation, which occurs about a week after conception. This redefinition of when human life begins was based on political and economic considerations, not biological or ethical ones.
WHAT ARE THE health risks OF MAP?
When conception has taken place, MAP is typically fatal to your child. However, in the rush to make the morning after pill available, studies to determine the risks of long term and repeated use of heavy doses of progestin to YOUR body were not carried out. As pointed out previously in this Resource Book for Women, even low doses present health risks to women, according to the United Nation’s World Health Organization.
Click on the article below for proof that the morning after bill IS in fact an abortifacient and does in fact end a unique human being.
Contraception to Abortion Timeline
- 1859 The American Medical Association condemns the practice of abortion.
- 1860s This decade marks the beginning of a social and political birth control movement.
- 1873 The Comstock Law is passed. The Comstock Law constituted a federal ban on the manufacture, sale or possession of contraceptives and advertisements for them.
- 1875 Every state in the United States has adopted laws banning abortion.
- 1916 Margaret Sanger forms the Birth Control League (now called Planned Parenthood) to promote contraception and abortion, and she begins her push for churches to accept contraception as morally licit.
- 1920 At the Lambeth Conference, Anglican Church leaders acknowledge the contraception debate, but respond, “We utter an emphatic warning against the use of unnatural means for the avoidance of conception…”
- 1930 At the Lambeth Conference, birth control is now considered morally acceptable under certain circumstances by protestant churches. This concession constitutes a major victory for Sanger and the culture of death.
- 1961 The National Protestant Council of Churches gives its backing to unnatural forms of birth control.
- 1965 Griswald v. Connecticut sounds the death knell for all anti-contraception legislation in the U.S. The Supreme Court invents the so-called “right to privacy” to shield the marital bedroom and contraceptives from the reach of legislation.
- 1967 Colorado becomes the first state to allow abortion in the cases of rape, incest or threat to the mother’s life.
- 1970 Fourteen states allow abortion in certain circumstances.
- 1972 Eisenstadt v. Baird—The Supreme Court extends the same invented right of privacy from Griswald to unmarried individuals desiring to use contraception.
- 1973 Roe v. Wade legalizes abortion on demand using the “right to privacy” from Griswald. The decision strikes down all state laws that had placed restrictions on abortion saying no state had the authority to legislate against abortion for any reason.
- 1973 Doe v. Bolton defines the health-of-the-mother exception in ambiguous terms and further secures the right to abortion on demand through all nine months of pregnancy.
POST ABORTION SYNDROME
A List of Major Psychological Sequelae of Abortion
REQUIREMENT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENT:
In a study of post-abortion patients only 8 weeks after their abortion, researchers found that 44% complained of nervous disorders, 36% had experienced sleep disturbances, 31% had regrets about their decision, and 11% had been prescribed psychotropic medicine by their family doctor. (2) A 5 year retrospective study in two Canadian provinces found significantly greater use of medical and psychiatric services among aborted women. Most significant was the finding that 25% of aborted women made visits to psychiatrists as compared to 3% of the control group. (3) Women who have had abortions are significantly more likely than others to subsequently require admission to a psychiatric hospital. At especially high risk are teenagers, separated or divorced women, and women with a history of more than one abortion. (4)
Since many post-aborted women use repression as a coping mechanism, there may be a long period of denial before a woman seeks psychiatric care. These repressed feelings may cause psychosomatic illnesses and psychiatric or behavioral in other areas of her life. As a result, some counselors report that unacknowledged post-abortion distress is the causative factor in many of their female patients, even though their patients have come to them seeking therapy for seemingly unrelated problems. (5)
POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD or PAS): A major random study found that a minimum of 19% of post- abortion women suffer from diagnosable post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Approximately half had many, but not all, symptoms of PTSD, and 20 to 40 percent showed moderate to high levels of stress and avoidance behavior relative to their abortion experiences. (6) Because this is a major disorder which may be present in many plaintiffs, and is not readily understood outside the counseling profession, the following summary is more complete than other entries in this section. PTSD is a psychological dysfunction which results from a traumatic experience which overwhelms a person's normal defense mechanisms resulting in intense fear, feelings of helplessness or being trapped, or loss of control. The risk that an experience will be traumatic is increased when the traumatizing event is perceived as including threats of physical injury, sexual violation, or the witnessing of or participation in a violent death. PTSD results when the traumatic event causes the hyperarousal of "flight or fight" defense mechanisms. This hyperarousal causes these defense mechanisms to become disorganized, disconnected from present circumstances, and take on a life of their own resulting in abnormal behavior and major personality disorders. As an example of this disconnection of mental functions, some PTSD victim may experience intense emotion but without clear memory of the event; others may remember every detail but without emotion; still others may reexperience both the event and the emotions in intrusive and overwhelming flashback experiences. (7)
Women may experience abortion as a traumatic event for several reasons. Many are forced into an unwanted abortions by husbands, boyfriends, parents, or others. If the woman has repeatedly been a victim of domineering abuse, such an unwanted abortion may be perceived as the ultimate violation in a life characterized by abuse. Other women, no matter how compelling the reasons they have for seeking an abortion, may still perceive the termination of their pregnancy as the violent killing of their own child. The fear, anxiety, pain, and guilt associated with the procedure are mixed into this perception of grotesque and violent death. Still other women, report that the pain of abortion, inflicted upon them by a masked stranger invading their body, feels identical to rape. (8) Indeed, researchers have found that women with a history of sexual assault may experience greater distress during and after an abortion exactly because of these associations between the two experiences. (9) When the stressor leading to PTSD is abortion, some clinicians refer to this as Post-Abortion Syndrome (PAS).
The major symptoms of PTSD are generally classified under three categories: hyperarousal, intrusion, and constriction.
HYPERAROUSAL is a characteristic of inappropriately and chronically aroused "fight or flight" defense mechanisms. The person is seemingly on permanent alert for threats of danger. Symptoms of hyperarousal include: exaggerated startle responses, anxiety attacks, irritability, outbursts of anger or rage, aggressive behavior, difficulty concentrating, hypervigilence, difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, or physiological reactions upon exposure to situations that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic experience (eg. elevated pulse or sweat during a pelvic exam, or upon hearing a vacuum pump sound.)
INTRUSION is the reexperience of the traumatic event at unwanted and unexpected times. Symptoms of intrusion in PAS cases include: recurrent and intrusive thoughts about the abortion or aborted child, flashbacks in which the woman momentarily reexperiences an aspect of the abortion experience, nightmares about the abortion or child, or anniversary reactions of intense grief or depression on the due date of the aborted pregnancy or the anniversary date of the abortion.
CONSTRICTION is the numbing of emotional resources, or the development of behavioral patterns, so as to avoid stimuli associated with the trauma. It is avoidance behavior; an attempt to deny and avoid negative feelings or people, places, or things which aggravate the negative feelings associated with the trauma. In post-abortion trauma cases, constriction may include: an inability to recall the abortion experience or important parts of it; efforts to avoid activities or situations which may arouse recollections of the abortion; withdrawal from relationships, especially estrangement from those involved in the abortion decision; avoidance of children; efforts to avoid or deny thoughts or feelings about the abortion; restricted range of loving or tender feelings; a sense of a foreshortened future (e.g., does not expect a career, marriage, or children, or a long life.); diminished interest in previously enjoyed activities; drug or alcohol abuse; suicidal thoughts or acts; and other self-destructive tendencies.
As previously mentioned, Barnard's study identified a 19% rate of PTSD among women who had abortions three to five years previously. But in reality the actual rate is probably higher. Like most post-abortion studies, Barnard's study was handicapped by a fifty percent drop out rate. Clinical experience has demonstrated that the women least likely to cooperate in post-abortion research are those for whom the abortion caused the most psychological distress. Research has confirmed this insight, demonstrating that the women who refuse followup evaluation most closely match the demographic characteristics of the women who suffer the most post-abortion distress. (10) The extraordinary high rate of refusal to participate in post-abortion studies may interpreted as evidence of constriction or avoidance behavior (not wanting to think about the abortion) which is a major symptom of PTSD.
For many women, the onset or accurate identification of PTSD symptoms may be delayed for several years. (11) Until a PTSD sufferer has received counseling and achieved adequate recovery, PTSD may result in a psychological disability which would prevent an injured abortion patient from bringing action within the normal statutory period. This disability may, therefore, provide grounds for an extended statutory period.
SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION: Thirty to fifty percent of aborted women report experiencing sexual dysfunctions, of both short and long duration, beginning immediately after their abortions. These problems may include one or more of the following: loss of pleasure from intercourse, increased pain, an aversion to sex and/or males in general, or the development of a promiscuous life-style. (12)
SUICIDAL IDEATION AND SUICIDE ATTEMPTS: Approximately 60 percent of women who experience post-abortion sequelae report suicidal ideation, with 28 percent actually attempting suicide, of which half attempted suicide two or more times. Researchers in Finland have identified a strong statistical association between abortion and suicide in a records based study. The identified 73 suicides associated within one year to a pregnancy ending either naturally or by induced abortion. The mean annual suicide rate for all women was 11.3 per 100,000. Suicide rate associated with birth was significantly lower (5.9). Rates for pregnancy loss were significantly higher. For miscarriage the rate was 18.1 per 100,000 and for abortion 34.7 per 100,000. The suicide rate within one year after an abortion was three times higher than for all women, seven times higher than for women carrying to term, and nearly twice as high as for women who suffered a miscarriage. Suicide attempts appear to be especially prevalent among post-abortion teenagers.(13)
INCREASED SMOKING WITH CORRESPONDENT NEGATIVE HEALTH EFFECTS: Post-abortion stress is linked with increased cigarette smoking. Women who abort are twice as likely to become heavy smokers and suffer the corresponding health risks. (14)
Post-abortion women are also more likely to continue smoking during subsequent wanted pregnancies with increased risk of neonatal death or congenital anomalies. (15)
ALCOHOL AB-- USE: Abortion is significantly linked with a two fold increased risk of alcohol abuse among women. (16) Abortion followed by alcohol abuse is linked to violent behavior, divorce or separation, auto accidents, and job loss. (17) (see also New Study Confirms Link Between Abortion and Substance Abuse)
DRUG AB-- USE: Abortion is significantly linked to subsequent drug abuse. In addition to the psycho-social costs of such abuse, drug abuse is linked with increased exposure to HIV/AIDS infections, congenital malformations, and assaultive behavior. (18)
EATING DISORDERS: For at least some women, post-abortion stress is associated with eating disorders such as binge eating, bulimia, and anorexia nervosa. (19)
CHILD NEGLECT OR AB-- USE: Abortion is linked with increased depression, violent behavior, alcohol and drug abuse, replacement pregnancies, and reduced maternal bonding with children born subsequently. These factors are closely associated with child abuse and would appear to confirm individual clinical assessments linking post-abortion trauma with subsequent child abuse. (20)
DIVORCE AND CHRONIC RELATIONSHIP PROBLEMS: For most couples, an abortion causes unforeseen problems in their relationship. Post-abortion couples are more likely to divorce or separate. Many post-abortion women develop a greater difficulty forming lasting bonds with a male partner. This may be due to abortion related reactions such as lowered self-esteem, greater distrust of males, sexual dysfunction, substance abuse, and increased levels of depression, anxiety, and volatile anger. Women who have more than one abortion (representing about 45% of all abortions) are more likely to require public assistance, in part because they are also more likely to become single parents. (21)
REPEAT ABORTIONS: Women who have one abortion are at increased risk of having additional abortions in the future. Women with a prior abortion experience are four times more likely to abort a current pregnancy than those with no prior abortion history. (22)
This increased risk is associated with the prior abortion due to lowered self esteem, a conscious or unconscious desire for a replacement pregnancy, and increased sexual activity post-abortion. Subsequent abortions may occur because of conflicted desires to become pregnant and have a child and continued pressures to abort, such as abandonment by the new male partner. Aspects of self-punishment through repeated abortions are also reported. (23)
Approximately 45% of all abortions are now repeat abortions. The risk of falling into a repeat abortion pattern should be discussed with a patient considering her first abortion. Furthermore, since women who have more than one abortion are at a significantly increased risk of suffering physical and psychological sequelae, these heightened risks should be thoroughly discussed with women seeking abortions.
NOTES:
- 1. An excellent resource for any attorney involved in abortion malpractice is Thomas Strahan's Major Articles and Books Concerning the Detrimental Effects of Abortion (Rutherford Institute, PO Box 7482, Charlottesville, VA 22906-7482, (804) 978-388.) This resource includes brief summaries of major finding drawn from medical and psychology journal articles, books, and related materials, divided into major categories of relevant injuries.
- 2. Ashton,"They Psychosocial Outcome of Induced Abortion", British Journal of Ob&Gyn., 87:1115-1122, (1980).
- 3. Badgley, et.al.,Report of the Committee on the Operation of the Abortion Law (Ottawa:Supply and Services, 1977)pp.313-321.
- 4. R. Somers, "Risk of Admission to Psychiatric Institutions Among Danish Women who Experienced Induced Abortion: An Analysis on National Record Linkage," Dissertation Abstracts International, Public Health 2621-B, Order No. 7926066 (1979); H. David, et al., "Postpartum and Postabortion Psychotic Reactions," Family Planning Perspectives 13:88-91 (1981).
- 5. Kent, et al., "Bereavement in Post-Abortive Women: A Clinical Report", World Journal of Psychosynthesis (Autumn-Winter 1981), vol.13,nos.3-4.
- 6. Catherine Barnard, The Long-Term Psychological Effects of Abortion, Portsmouth, N.H.: Institute for Pregnancy Loss, 1990).
- 7. Herman, Trauma and Recovery, (New York: Basic Books, 1992) 34.
- 8. Francke, The Ambivalence of Abortion (New York: Random House, 1978) 84-95.
- 9. Zakus, "Adolescent Abortion Option," Social Work in Health Care, 12(4):87 (1987); Makhorn, "Sexual Assault & Pregnancy," New Perspectives on Human Abortion, Mall & Watts, eds., (Washington, D.C.: University Publications of America, 1981).
- 10. Adler, "Sample Attrition in Studies of Psycho-social Sequelae of Abortion: How great a problem." Journal of Social Issues, 1979, 35, 100-110.
- 11. Speckhard, "Postabortion Syndrome: An Emerging Public Health Concern," Journal of Social Issues, 48(3):95-119.
- 12. Speckhard, Psycho-social Stress Following Abortion, Sheed & Ward, Kansas City: MO, 1987; and Belsey, et al., "Predictive Factors in Emotional Response to Abortion: King's Termination Study - IV," Soc. Sci. & Med., 11:71-82 (1977).
- 13. Speckhard, Psycho-social Stress Following Abortion, Sheed & Ward, Kansas City: MO, 1987; Gissler, Hemminki & Lonnqvist, "Suicides after pregnancy in Finland, 1987-94: register linkage study," British Journal of Medicine 313:1431-4, 1996.C. Haignere, et al., "HIV/AIDS Prevention and Multiple Risk Behaviors of Gay Male and Runaway Adolescents," Sixth International Conference on AIDS: San Francisco, June 1990; N. Campbell, et al., "Abortion in Adolescence," Adolescence, 23(92):813-823 (1988); H. Vaughan, Canonical Variates of Post-Abortion Syndrome, Portsmouth, NH: Institute for Pregnancy Loss, 1991; B. Garfinkel, "Stress, Depression and Suicide: A Study of Adolescents in Minnesota," Responding to High Risk Youth, Minnesota Extension Service, University of Minnesota (1986).
- 14. Harlap, "Characteristics of Pregnant Women Reporting Previous Induced Abortions," Bulletin World Health Organization, 52:149 (1975); N. Meirik, "Outcome of First Delivery After 2nd Trimester Two Stage Induced Abortion: A Controlled Cohort Study," Acta Obsetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavia 63(1):45-50(1984); Levin, et al., "Association of Induced Abortion with Subsequent Pregnancy Loss," JAMA, 243:2495-2499, June 27, 1980.
- 15. Obel, "Pregnancy Complications Following Legally Induced Abortion: An Analysis of the Population with Special Reference to Prematurity," Danish Medical Bulletin, 26:192- 199 (1979); Martin, "An Overview: Maternal Nicotine and Caffeine Consumption and Offspring Outcome," Neurobehavioral Toxicology and Tertology, 4(4):421-427, (1982).
- 16. Klassen, "Sexual Experience and Drinking Among Women in a U.S. National Survey," Archives of Sexual Behavior, 15(5):363-39 ; M. Plant, Women, Drinking and Pregnancy, Tavistock Pub, London (1985); Kuzma & Kissinger, "Patterns of Alcohol and Cigarette Use in Pregnancy," Neurobehavioral Toxicology and Terotology, 3:211-221 (1981).
- 17. Morrissey, et al., "Stressful Life Events and Alcohol Problems Among Women Seen at a Detoxification Center," Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 39(9):1159 (1978).
- 18. Oro, et al., "Perinatal Cocaine and Methamphetamine Exposure Maternal and Neo-Natal Correlates," J. Pediatrics, 111:571- 578 (1978); D.A. Frank, et al., "Cocaine Use During Pregnancy Prevalence and Correlates," Pediatrics, 82(6):888 (1988); H. Amaro, et al., "Drug Use Among Adolescent Mothers: Profile of Risk," Pediatrics 84:144-150, (1989)
- 19. Speckhard, Psycho-social Stress Following Abortion, Sheed & Ward, Kansas City: MO, 1987; J. Spaulding, et al, "Psychoses Following Therapeutic Abortion, Am. J. of Psychiatry 125(3):364 (1978); R.K. McAll, et al., "Ritual Mourning in Anorexia Nervosa," The Lancet, August 16, 1980, p. 368.
- 20. Benedict, et al., "Maternal Perinatal Risk Factors and Child Abuse," Child Abuse and Neglect, 9:217-224 (1985); P.G. Ney, "Relationship between Abortion and Child Abuse," Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 24:610-620, 1979; Reardon, Aborted Women - Silent No More (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1987), 129-30, describes a case of woman who beat her three year old son to death shortly after an abortion which triggered a "psychotic episode" of grief, guilt, and misplaced anger.
- 21. Shepard, et al., "Contraceptive Practice and Repeat Induced Abortion: An Epidemiological Investigation," J. Biosocial Science, 11:289-302 (1979); M. Bracken, "First and Repeated Abortions: A Study of Decision-Making and Delay," J. Biosocial Science, 7:473-491 (1975); S. Henshaw, "The Characteristics and Prior Contraceptive Use of U.S. Abortion Patients," Family Planning Perspectives, 20(4):158-168 (1988); D. Sherman, et al., "The Abortion Experience in Private Practice," Women and Loss: Psychobiological Perspectives, ed. W.F. Finn, et al., (New York: Praeger Publ. 1985), pp98-107; E.M. Belsey, et al., "Predictive Factors in Emotional Response to Abortion: King's Termination Study - IV," Social Science and Medicine, 11:71- 82 (1977); E. Freeman, et al., "Emotional Distress Patterns Among Women Having First or Repeat Abortions," Obstetrics and Gynecology, 55(5):630-636 (1980); C. Berger, et al., "Repeat Abortion: Is it a Problem?" Family Planning Perspectives 16(2):70-75 (1984).
- 22. Joyce, "The Social and Economic Correlates of Pregnancy Resolution Among Adolescents in New York by Race and Ethnicity: A Multivariate Analysis," Am. J. of Public Health, 78(6):626-631 (1988); C. Tietze, "Repeat Abortions - Why More?" Family Planning Perspectives 10(5):286-288, (1978).
- 23. Leach, "The Repeat Abortion Patient," Family Planning Perspectives, 9(1):37-39 (1977); S. Fischer, "Reflection on Repeated Abortions: The meanings and motivations," Journal of Social Work Practice 2(2):70-87 (1986); B. Howe, et al., "Repeat Abortion, Blaming the Victims," Am. J. of Public Health, 69(12):1242-1246, (1979).
- copyright 1997 Elliot Institute Compiled by David C. Reardon, Ph.D.
ABORTION/BREAST CANCER LINK
"It is known that having a full-term pregnancy early in a woman's childbearing years is protective against breast cancer....Interruption during the first trimester of a first pregnancy causes a cessation of cell differentiation, which may result in a subsequent increase in the risk of cancerous growth in these tissues." [Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. Web site, "Abortion and Breast Cancer: The Issues" 3 (visited Sep. 5, 1997) http://www.igc.apc.org/ppfa/ab-breas.html]
In our last Rose Review, we offered some websites where you could get information regarding the link between abortion and breast cancer. I hope many of you took the opportunity to become informed about the truth behind what many in the pro-abort community would like to keep secret: that there is indeed a significant link between having had an abortion and developing breast cancer at a young age.
Dr. Angela Lanfranchi, M.D., F.A.C.S., a New Jersey breast cancer surgeon, became suspicious of why her young, thirty-something patients were developing breast cancer. After all, wasn’t this the “grandma disease”? Analysis of her own data showed that 30% of women in their thirties with breast cancer had no family history, but did have an abortion; whereas in her older patients, only 15% had had abortions.
Epidemiologists use six criteria to determine if an association is in fact causal. The six criteria were all met in linking abortion to breast cancer. They are:
- The exposure or risk must precede the disease. (Women who developed breast cancer had previous abortions)
- The preponderance of the studies must show an association. (28 out of 37 studies report an association between abortion and breast cancer)
- The studies must include statistically significant studies. (By 1995, 17 studies worldwide [8 studies included American women] showed a statistically significant link between abortion and breast cancer.)
- There must be a plausible biologic basis. The physiology of the breast provides the best evidence of the link between abortion and breast cancer. If a pregnancy is terminated before the 32nd week, the woman is left with an increased number of Type 1 and 2 lobules, which are the most sensitive to the carcinogenic effects of estrogen.
- There should be a dose effect, meaning the more you are exposed to a risk, the higher the risk. A study by Melbye et al, 1997, showed that for every week you delay an abortion, the risk of breast cancer increases by 3%. His study showed a statistically significant increase risk of breast cancer among women with second trimester abortions.
- There must be a relative risk of over 3.0, or a 200% increased risk. (Teenagers less than 18 years of age who have abortions between nine and twenty-four weeks gestation have an 800% increased risk, or a relative risk of 9.0 according to the National Cancer Institute’s commissioned study, Daling et al, 1994. They found the teenage girl’s risk increased to infinity if she also had a family history of breast cancer. This was because all the women in her study who had a family history of breast cancer and had also had an abortion at age 18 or younger, developed breast cancer by the age of 45.
A simple look at the number of breast cancers worldwide since the easy availability of abortion, shows further proof of the link. According to an article by Dr. Lanfranchi for the USCCB, the incidence of breast cancer in the United States has increased to 40% since the legalization of abortion. In Romania, they enjoyed one of the lowest rates of breast cancer anywhere while abortion was outlawed. Now that abortion is legal there, their breast cancer rate is one of the highest in the world. In the United Kingdom, breast cancer rates parallel abortion rates. And China has seen a 40% increase in breast cancer since implementing the one-child-per-family policy and forced abortions.
This is not to say that every woman who develops breast cancer has had an abortion. There are several risk factors for breast cancer, including age, family history, genetics, having the first child after the age of 30 or never having a child, early menstruation(before age 12), late menopause(after age 50), heavy smoking and/or alcohol use, obesity, and prolonged use of hormone replacement therapy(HRT). One of the first studies to discover the link between HRT and breast cancer, was the Million Woman Study done in Great Britain from 1996 -2001. 1,084,110 women aged 50 to 64 were involved. Within 1.5 years, researchers saw an increase in breast cancer from women who had already been taking HRT. Within 4.5 years they saw a significant increase in breast cancer among women who had begun HRT with the initiation of the study. The study was intended to last for 10 years, but was halted because of the high incidence of breast cancer among the participants. The most significant increase in breast cancer followed the use of oestrogen- progestagen combinations rather than from other types of HRT. This study and others like it have led to a decrease in usage of HRT for the treatment of menopausal symptoms. But what about oral contraceptive use? If an increase in estrogen following an abortion is linked to breast cancer. And increased levels of estrogen in HRT are linked to breast cancer. Doesn’t it make sense that increased levels of estrogen in oral contraceptives, especially the higher doses found in emergency contraceptives such as Plan B, would also increase a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer? In separate studies published in 2006 in the “New England Journal of Medicine”, the October edition of “Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention”, and the October issue of “Mayo Clinic Proceedings”, the use of oral contraceptives was confirmed as increasing the risk of developing breast cancer. It goes back to the physiology of the breast. Until a woman has her first full-term pregnancy, her breasts are made up of Type 1 and 2 lobules, which are highly sensitive to the carcinogenic effects of estrogen. The more estrogen a woman is exposed to in her lifetime, the higher her risk of developing breast cancer. So, if abortion increases the risk of breast cancer, and oral contraceptives increase the risk of breast cancer, why does Planned Parenthood continue to say they are a business that cares about the health of women? Why do they oppose any legislation that requires women to get the truth?
Please check out the following websites for detailed information: