An abortion can triple a woman's chances of contracting breast cancer, according to a study conducted in Sri Lanka.
The research, performed by scientists at the University of Colombo, showed abortion is the greatest reported risk factor for the disease, according to the Daily Mail in London. The study is the fourth in the last 14 months to demonstrate such a link, the newspaper reported June 24.
A cancer research organization in Great Britain criticized the study's size.
Joel Brind, a professor at New York University and an expert on the abortion-breast cancer link, said the sample of 100 women who have had breast cancer and 203 who have not, is "still a good study, just not quite as powerful. I would emphasize that it is typical of studies that have come out early in countries where breast cancer and abortion are not yet that common, like studies in the 1980s in China, Japan, Australia and even the U.S."
Though not all research has shown a connection between an abortion early in life and breast cancer later, there are more than two dozen peer-reviewed studies in various countries that have shown evidence of a link, according to the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer.
Contact: Tom Strode
Source: Baptist Press
Date Published: July 16, 2010
