Abortion in Australia

Media Release from the Reverend Fred Nile MLC, released Tuesday, 22nd September 2010.

The Rev Hon Fred Nile MLC, Leader of the Christian Democratic Party, has raised concern that new scientific research linking abortion and breast cancer is being ignored in Australia for ideological reasons.

"Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer that Australian women suffer, with approximately 14,000 new diagnoses every year. It is a horrific condition that can rob women of their sense of femininity, dignity and ultimately life", said Rev Fred Nile.

"Whilst I applaud the hard work invested by researchers, community groups like the McGrath Foundation and collaborative efforts like pink ribbon day, prevention is always better than cure. So I find it tragic that some in our community are choosing to ignore preventative measures that could directly affect the health and well being of tens of thousands of women. Due to political ideologies, some are still ignoring the growing body of scientific evidence that abortion significantly increases a woman's chances of developing breast cancer.

Because of his concern, Rev Fred Nile raised this issue in the NSW Parliament on Tuesday 21st September 2010, quoting from an affidavit of leading breast cancer surgeon, Angela Lanfranchi:

"I am a breast cancer surgeon practising in New Jersey, since 1984. I hold the position of Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. I am also a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and am certified by the American Board of Surgery.

She goes on to say:

As a breast cancer surgeon over the last 25 years, I have cared for ever-younger women with breast cancer; my youngest was 25 years old. There has been a 40% increase in incidence in invasive breast cancer over my career. I have researched the causes of these alarming increases over the past fifteen years and have become knowledgeable about the reasons for these trends, one of which is induced abortion ...

Just last year alone, three studies from the United States, China and Turkey, confirmed that abortion is associated with increased risk of breast cancer ...

Epidemiological studies have long confirmed that abortion is associated with increased risk of breast cancer, satisfying the Hill criteria for causation. These studies will necessarily continue to be produced because scientists know that in order to conduct valid studies concerning any risk factor all known variables must be controlled for, and induced abortion is one of them.

The physiology of why abortion increases the risk of breast cancer is well-understood, as explained below.

A lobule is a unit of breast tissue consisting of milk glands and ducts which carry the milk towards the nipple. Before the first full-term pregnancy, a women's breast is about 75% Type 1 and 25% Type 2 lobules where ductal and lobular breast cancers form respectively. By the end of the pregnancy, the breast is about 85% fully matured to cancer-resistant Type 4 lobules and only about 15% immature, cancer-vulnerable lobules remain, thereby reducing the mother's future risk of breast cancer. After weaning, Type 4 lobules become Type 3 lobules. There are permanent changes in the up and down regulation of genes in these Type 3 lobules conferring life-long reduction in breast cancer risk.

During a pregnancy the absolute number of these lobules also increase as the breast doubles in volume with an increase in the number of lobules and a decrease in stroma (the surrounding connective tissue) ...

Only after 32 weeks' gestation does the fetal-placental hormone human placental lactogen ... in concert with other hormones, fully mature the breast lobules into Type 4, making them cancer-resistant. An abortion before 32 weeks prevents this from occurring. The same physiology accounts for an approximate doubling in breast cancer risk due to premature birth before 32 weeks, as shown by several studies. In addition, it has been well-established by at least 2 meta-analyses that abortion increases the risk of future premature births. A combination of these two effects results in a further increase in breast cancer risk from abortion ...

In light of the clear physiology linking abortion to breast cancer, and the numerous studies documenting the increased risk, physicians have a professional duty to disclose that abortion increases the risk of breast cancer.

Greater honesty is needed to prevent negative psychological impacts of abortion.

"Women are hard-wired for relationships—and a woman’s relationship to her baby is one of the most powerful of all, whether she realizes it or not. The hard-wiring of the brain may explain many women’s disturbing post-abortion feelings," write Professors Evelyn Birge Vitz and Paul C. Vitz in an article published in the September 20 issue of Public Discourse.

In the article the authors relate spending a semester with students studying the stories of women who shared their experiences after an abortion.

The authors found that "many of these women are in acute pain; some are almost totally incapacitated" by their post-abortion feelings.

"What is particularly striking is that most of the women who have these powerful emotional reactions to their abortion are stunned by them. They were not opposed to abortion; many were actively pro-choice. They were blind-sided by their own reaction. One woman lamented—and thousands of others echo her mystified anguish—‘If this was the right decision, why do I feel so terrible?’”

"When responding to the stress of the abortion, she may well be drawn to nurturing, to ‘tending and befriending’ behavior: this is, we saw, characteristic of women. But one of the key persons she might have tended and befriended—her unborn child—she has just terminated. She therefore has no ready outlet to cope with this significant stress."

"Add to this already toxic mix the very power of the memories involved in most unwanted pregnancies and abortion experiences," the authors write, "such as the nausea or other physical symptoms, often exacerbated by hormonal instability and mood swings; the anxiety over the unwanted pregnancy; the drama of the pregnancy test; often, the difficulty of making the decision, then the waiting before the abortion can take place; perhaps protesters in front of the clinic; the abortion clinic waiting room, crowded perhaps with other emotional women and men; the abortion itself—the doctors and nurses, the stirrups, the vacuum or other machinery—then the recovery room; the pain and bleeding afterward.

"All these dramatic experiences are likely to provide her with indelible memories. A woman may return to them and relive them over and over."

The authors conclude that "though a woman can decide rationally to have an abortion ... a terrible and shocking reaction sets in after their abortion. Often what lasts is not the relief or the power of the logical arguments: these may prove very short-lived. It is, rather, the failed, betrayed relationship between the woman and her fetus—now, in her mind, her dead baby—that has staying power."

The authors call for a greater honesty from the medical profession toward women contemplating abortion "to prevent at least some women from having to experience this painful surprise."

"Women need to be told the truth. They need to be prepared for what may be the consequences of this major life decision. This is what informed choice means."

Source: LifeSiteNews.
Full article.

From the Australian Christian Lobby.

In Victoria, the DLP Member of the Upper House, Peter Kavanagh, has courageously challenged the status quo on abortion by calling upon a Parliamentary committee to inquire into the post-natal deaths of babies born alive in Victoria after failed abortions.

In Parliament recently Mr Kavanagh called upon “the Family and Community Development Committee to inquire into, consider and report on the post-natal deaths of babies born alive in Victoria after failed abortions, with particular reference to the 2007 Annual Report of the Consultative Council on Obstetric and Paediatric Mortality and Morbidity”.

Mr Kavanagh noted that on 20 May 2010 the Herald Sun reported on the recently released 2007 annual report of the Consultative Council on Obstetric and Paediatric Mortality and Morbidity which showed that 54 out of 181 late term foetuses who were aborted for “abnormalities” (at around 26 to 28 weeks) survived late term abortions but all of them in the period studied died “post-natally”.

He further noted that babies born after 26 to 28 weeks of gestation have a very high chance of survival if given even minimal care, and that the death of every one of these babies in the period studied therefore suggests that they were neglected to death, if not deliberately killed.

Recent media reports suggest that the number of late-term abortions in Victoria have sky-rocketed since abortion was decriminalised in the State. ACL is concerned about how many more babies are being born alive after botched abortions and left to die – and denied even basic care.

You may recall that during the 2008 abortion debate in Victoria, Gianna Jessen, an abortion survivor, spoke at Queens Hall in Parliament House in an event organised by the Ad Hoc Interfaith Committee and supported by the ACL. She told how she was saved from certain death by a nurse who, in the absence of the doctor, called for an ambulance to revive her after she arrived alive after a botched abortion in a US abortion clinic.

It is galling to discover in 2010, through a government report, that in 2007 – even before the new ‘open-slather’ abortion laws were passed - 54 babies in Victoria survived late term abortions but were not given any chance at life. We commend Mr Kavanagh for pursuing this issue. 

From LifeSiteNews

Men and women who felt they had inadequate counseling before an abortion, as well as those who disagreed with their partners about the decision to abort, were more likely to experience personal and interpersonal problems following the procedure, according to a new paper* published in the medical journal Traumatology.

Researchers Catherine T. Coyle, Priscilla K. Coleman, and Vincent M. Rue - all experts in the after-effects of abortion - collected data via online surveys from 374 women who had a prior abortion and 198 men whose partners had experienced elective abortion.  

The results found that women who expressed dissatisfaction with their pre-abortion counseling tended to have relationship problems, such as obsessive intrusion, avoidance, and hyperarousal - and also tended to describe the full diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  Men with the same pre-abortion experience reported similar interpersonal trauma.

When the individuals reported that their partner disagreed with the decision to abort, women were more likely to report PTSD and intrusion tendencies, while in men such disagreement was linked with PTSD, intrusion, hyperarousal, and other relationship problems. 

The researchers pointed out that few studies have examined men's psychological responses to elective abortion, although the procedure has been commonly linked to subsequent feelings of anger, anxiety, guilt, grief, and powerlessness in men.

"Although men are involved with conception and abortion, they are not routinely offered abortion counseling," they write.  "Despite the call for greater inclusion of and attention to males in abortion clinics, little has changed.  Most men who accompany women for abortion do not receive counseling and are left alone to wait."

* Catherine T. Coyle, Priscilla K. Coleman, and Vincent M. Rue Inadequate Preabortion Counseling and Decision Conflict as Predictors of Subsequent Relationship Difficulties and Psychological Stress in Men and Women Traumatology first published on November 16, 2009.

Countries With Permissive Abortion Laws Also Have Highest Maternal Death Rates
 
Many abortion advocates have long argued that abortion is necessary to protect the health and safety of women, since many would otherwise seek unsafe abortions. But an analysis of data from a new report published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) has found that countries that permit abortion don't have lower maternal death rates. 
 
The Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-Fam) looked at the data on various countries from the WEF's 2009 Gender Gap Report and found that, countries with the most restrictive abortion laws also had the lowest maternal death rates, while countries with more permissive laws tended to have higher maternal death rates.
 
In Europe, Ireland had the lowest maternal death rate with 1 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births, while Poland was at 27 with 8 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. Both countries have very restrictive laws on abortion, while the U.S., which has "virtually no restrictions on abortion" has 11 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births. 
 
Data from other regions also found that the countries with the most restrictive abortion bans also had the lowest maternal death rates:
 
In Africa, the country with the lowest maternal death rate (15 per 100,000) is Mauritius, which also has the toughest laws against abortion, while Ethiopia, which recently decriminalized abortion, has a rate 48 times higher (720 per 100,000). The African country with the most liberal abortion laws, South Africa, has a maternal death rate of 400 per 100,000 live births.
 
In Asia, Nepal has no restrictions on abortion and also has one of the world's highest mortality rates (830 per 100,000) while Sri Lanka had the lowest rates in Asia (58 per 100,000) and one of the strictest abortion bans in the world.
 
In South America, Chile has constitutional protection for the unborn and a death rate of 16 per 100,000. The highest maternal death rate (430 per 100,000) was found in Guyana, which has almost unrestricted abortion.
 
Ironically, C-Fam says, "one of two main justifications used for liberalizing Guyana's law was to enhance the 'attainment of safe motherhood' by eliminating deaths and complications associated with unsafe abortion."
 
Their findings "show that legal abortion does not mean lower maternal mortality rates," C-Fam concluded.
 
Women Also Have Higher Death Rates After Abortion
 
Other research that has looked at death rates following abortion vs. childbirth have also found that women are more likely to die after an abortion.
 
Studies from Finland that examined women's medical records found that women who had an abortion were six times more likely to die within the following year compared to women who had given birth. Deaths from suicide were 3.5 times higher, deaths from natural causes were 1.6 times higher and deaths from homicide were 14 times higher.
 
And a follow-up study in the U.S., headed by the Elliot Institute, found that, compared to women who gave birth, women who had abortions had a 62 percent higher risk of death for at least eight years later after their pregnancies. Deaths from suicides and accidents were most prominent, with suicides being 2.5 times higher.
 
Other studies have linked abortion to increased physical and psychological problems such as depression, anxiety disorders, infertility problems, sleep disorders, substance abuse and more.
 
~~~
 
Learn more: For more information on the studies mentioned above, download and share the Elliot Institute's Recent Research fact sheet.
 
See this article online.
 
Reproduced with permission.

From the Elliot Institute ...

A pattern of injustices dressed up as “choice”:

1. The rhetoric of choice hides the reality of coercion.
2. Abortion is often someone else’s “choice.” 64% of American women who have had abortions felt pressured by others.1
3. Pressure is significant. Her “choices” may involve loss of home, family or essential support, or abuse that can escalate to violence.2 Homicide is the leading killer of pregnant women.3
4. Coercion can take many forms, including undisclosed, misleading or false information about foetal development and alternatives.4
5. Even though the majority felt rushed and uncertain, 67% received no counseling; 79% were not told about alternatives.1
6. Abortion is often a woman’s last choice, but her abuser’s first choice.2 Teens face an especially high risk for coercion.5
7. Many who pushed family or friends to abort were also deceived – by experts, authorities or even pastors – about foetal development, alternatives and risks.4, 6
8. The overall death rate of women rises 3.5 times after an abortion.7 Suicide rates are 6 times higher after an abortion.8
9. 65% report symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder they attribute to their abortions.1
10. “We were maiming at least one woman a month.” – Carol Everett, former abortion clinic operator.


It wasn't safe.   It wasn't fair.   It wasn't about choice.
Learn more about abortion's injustice and injury to women: TheUnChoice.com


Citations
1. VM Rue et. al., “Induced abortion and traumatic stress: A preliminary comparison of American and Russian women,” Medical Science Monitor 10(10): SR5-16, 2004.
2. See the special report, Forced Abortion in America at www.theunchoice.com/Coerced.htm.
3. I.L. Horton and D. Cheng, “Enhanced Surveillance for Pregnancy-Associated Mortality-Maryland, 1993-1998,” JAMA 285(11): 1455-1459 (2001);
J. Mcfarlane et. al., “Abuse During Pregnancy and Femicide: Urgent Implications for Women’s Health,” Obstetrics & Gynecology 100: 27-36 (2002).
4. Melinda Tankard-Reist, Giving Sorrow Words (Springfield, IL: Acorn Books, 2007).
5. Sobie & Reardon, “A Generation at Risk: How Pro-Abortionists Manipulate Vulnerable Teens,” The Post-Abortion Review, Vol. 8, No. 1, Jan-Mar. 2000.
6. Carol Everett with Jack Shaw, Blood Money (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Books, 1992). See also Pamela Zekman and Pamela Warwick, “The Abortion Profiteers,” Chicago Sun Times special reprint, Dec. 3, 1978 (originally published Nov. 12, 1978), p. 2-3, 33.
7. M Gissler et. al., “Pregnancy Associated Deaths in Finland 1987-1994 — definition problems and benefits of record linkage,” Acta Obsetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica 76:651-657, 1997. See also, DC Reardon et. al., “Deaths Associated With Pregnancy Outcome: A Record Linkage Study of Low Income Women,” Southern Medical Journal 95(8):834-41, Aug. 2002.
8. M. Gissler et. al., “Injury deaths, suicides and homicides associated with pregnancy, Finland 1987-2000,” European J. Public Health 15(5):459-63, 2005; and M. Gissler, et. al., “Methods for identifying pregnancy-associated deaths: population-based data from Finland 1987-2000,” Paediatric Perinatal Epidemiology 18(6): 44855, Nov. 2004.

Elliot  Institute: AfterAbortion.org    |    Fact Sheets, Outreach: TheUnChoice.com