Study Shows No Link Between Abortion and Breast Cancer

A new study confirms earlier findings that abortion does not cause breast cancer.  Maggie Fox reports for Reuters:

Abortions and miscarriages do not raise the risk of breast cancer, despite claims by some groups and some studies that suggest they do, researchers said yesterday.  A study of more than 100,000 US nurses found that those who had an abortion or miscarriage were no more likely to have breast cancer than any other woman in the study.

The findings fit with a 2003 report from an international expert panel put together by the US National Cancer Institute.

"If you look at the high-quality evidence, it does not support an association between induced abortions and breast cancer," said Karin Michels of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.  But her team set out to create the most reliable type of research that is possible -- a prospective study, starting with women before they ever had cancer, and following them for years.

Carla Johnson of the Associated Press reports:

However, this latest analysis isn't likely to convince all those opposed to abortion. Three states — Texas, Minnesota and Mississippi — require doctors to warn women seeking abortions of the purported link to breast cancer "when medically accurate," letting doctors make that determination based on current scientific evidence.