I just read an interesting article about the link between abortion and breast cancer. I had been told that women have a much higher chance of developing breast cancer after an abortion, but I didn't understand what the possible mechanism could have been. Now I know:
The cells in the breasts that develop for lactation are called TEBs (terminal end buds) and are undifferentiated until the end of a pregnancy. If pregnancy never occur these cells tend to grow and are susceptible to becoming cancerous. The fully developed cells, called lobules, that result from full-term pregnancy are more or less immune to cancer.
So now we know how breast cancer forms in women that don't have babies, but what do abortions have to do with it?
When a woman becomes pregnant, the amount of estradiol (ovarian estrogen) is much higher, and it increases dramatically over the course of the prgranancy. If a pregnancy is carried to term, other hormones take over that negate the effect of estradiol. But when a pregnancy is terminated by induced abortion, the levels of estradiol remain abnormally high for several weeks. Apparently, the higher estradiol levels mixed with the fact that the TEB cells haven't developed equals a much higher risk of breast cancer.
But if a woman has previously carried a baby to full-term, the risk is greatly reduced because the TEB cells have had a chance to fully develop. And a woman that has never been pregnant also has a higher chance of developing breast cancer because she carries the TEB cells around with her for her entire life. (I would be interested to know what the darwinists would have to say about this particular adaptation. Women that don't have children are more likely to die off, so .... ?)
Spontaneous abortions (miscarriages) are always accompanied by a lower level of estradiol, so there is no increased risk of breast cancer in miscarriages.
At any rate, the author explains the various studies and how mainstream medical science tries to hide the result of the link by grouping spontaneous abortions in with the induced abortions (thereby dilluting the results significantly). The author does a very professional job of explaining this in an unbiased way.
The full article can be found at
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/...frear/brind.htm 
Columbus Townhall > Forum > Politics > National > Health Care (Moderators: Peter, CTH Public Relations)
Topic: Breast Cancer and Abortion
