Abortions in China Increase Breast Cancer Cases 40%
11/4/2005
A women's group that monitors the link between abortion and breast cancer is pointing to a new report released by the Chinese government showing cases of breast cancer are up by 40 percent. That's significant, the group says, because of the high incidence of both abortion and forced abortions in China.
The Chinese Ministry of Health says 3.53 out of every 100,000 Chinese women died from breast cancer from 1990 to 1992.
The fatality rate of breast cancer in the 1991-2000 period rose 38.7 percent for urban Chinese women, and 39.1 percent for those in rural areas.
The disease is affecting younger women aged 45-49, 10-15 years younger than their counterparts in the United States, and Karen Malec, head of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer says that's because of the prevalence of abortion.
According to Angela Lanfranchi, MD, FACS, Associate Professor of Surgery at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center, abortion made breast cancer a young woman's disease.
"The Chinese government, like the American government, isn't telling women why they're getting more breast cancers," Malec says.
"Here's a little clue for the Chinese and U.S. governments. Nations that prohibit abortion (like Ireland and Poland) have significantly lower breast cancer rates," Malec explained citing an October 2005 article in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.
"Abortion is prevalent in China because of the one-child per couple policy," Malec said. "Chinese women have early first full term pregnancies, and subsequent illegal pregnancies are forcibly aborted. Scientists agree that having an early first full term pregnancy (the earlier, the lower the risk) significantly reduces breast cancer risk."