Abortion and breast cancer

Is abortion linked to breast cancer?

A lot of people wonder whether abortion and breast cancer are somehow linked. Both of these topics are difficult for most people to talk about and they usually bring out strong feelings in people. Abortion is known to be linked to personal and even political viewpoints. On the other hand, breast cancer is a thing that most women fear since it is the most common cancer type that women develop. This is one of the main reasons why so many people have such strong emotions towards them. However, there is still no proof that there even is a connection between these two topics.

How do hormones affect the breasts?

Every type of breast cancer in women is always related to the levels of hormones in the body. The levels of hormones are known to change during the life. However, they go through specific changes when a woman is pregnant. The hormones increase when a woman is pregnant and about to breastfeed. Because of this, changes in the breast tissue occur.

Does abortion affect hormones during the pregnancy?

It is thought that abortion is to blame for the interruption of normal cycle of hormones during pregnancy and that is why experts are looking into the connection between abortion and breast cancer. People should know that there are three types of abortion. Spontaneous abortion is the first one, stillbirth is considered to be the second one and induced abortion is the third type of abortion. Women should know that all three types have been studied in order to be seen whether any of them has an effect on the woman developing breast cancer sometimes later in life.

Research on abortion and breast cancer

People should know that lots of studies were conducted on the subject of abortion and an increased risk of breast cancer. However, the researchers did not have an easy task working on the studies due to the nature of these topics. Case-controlled study design was used on most of the early studies of abortion and breast cancer.

Results from major prospective studies

The biggest and the most reliable study on this topic were conducted in Denmark in the 1990s. After adjusting for known breast cancer risks factors, the researchers found that the induced abortions had no overall affect on the risk of breast cancer. The evidences are strong because the study was a big one, some 1.5 million women participated.