Breast Cancer and Abortion

Full term pregnancies and subsequent breast feeding seem to be protective of the breast. There is the theory that when a pregnancy is terminated early, the health of the breast may be affected. This issue around breast cancer risk and abortion is really heightened by the pro-choice/pro-life movement. Sometimes it is hard to distinguish what is credible research because of this. There is also the question of miscarriage verses induced abortions. A study published in the International Journal of Cancer this month states that there is no increased risk from abortion. They did find that more than two miscarraiges indicated some sort of risk.

From a Holistic perspective, there is some sort of hormonal imbalance that would have caused the miscarraiges. This same hormonal imbalance might increase breast cancer risk. This is why we talk about symptoms as signs. All of your hormonal symptoms, PMS, miscarraige, endometriosis, fibroids, painful breasts, etc. are signs of hormonal imbalance. Dealing with this imbalance by using a combination of nutrition and reduction of exposure to hormone disrupting chemicals would make a lot of sense here.


This is a highly emotional issue for people on both sides. We would love to see a meta analysis of this issue done. For now, it seems more reasonable to spend time focusing on what we know is a risk factor. We will keep you posted on any new research that comes up on this issue. We've even tried to interview people about it, but politics gets in the way of interpretation almost every time. Anyone have views on this?