Monday, June 19, 2006

Mayo Clinic Denies Abortion/Breast Cancer Link

The influential Mayo Clinic is advising women that there is no link between abortion and breast cancer -- a conclusion that flies in the face of numerous studies showing the link between the two. The advice comes in a response posted on Mayo's web site in reply to a question from a Wisconsin woman.

"There's no credible evidence of a link between induced abortion and breast cancer," Dr. Sandhya Pruthi wrote the woman on behalf of Mayo's web site. As proof, Mayo cites the National Cancer Institute, but the organization has come under fire as political charged and relying more on the political beliefs of leading office there than scientific studies. However, Pruthi goes on in her response to say that some studies have shown a link between abortion and breast cancer.

In fact, it cites a "large meta-analysis" compiled by Dr. Joel Brind and other researchers in 1996. They conducted a synthesis of all the major studies done in the field to that time and concluded that women who had an abortion before their first term child had a 50% increased of developing breast cancer while women who had an abortion after their first child sustained a 30% increased risk. They published their findings in an article in the October 1996 edition of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

If you'd be interested in following up this matter, I'd suggest checking out the info at the Coaltion on Abortion/Breast Cancer website.

After looking through that information, you might want to contact the Mayo Clinic and let them know what you think about their politically-correct but scientifically-incorrect information at http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/contact-us/contactus