A Call to Intellectual Honesty

A Call to Intellectual Honesty

I am writing in response to the opinion editorial “Oppose threats to abortion,” Jan.27, pg.6. I can no longer contain my frustration over the lack of intellectual honesty in our society regarding abortion. The article states the importance of education when concerned with abortion, and I would like to make my peers aware of information and research that exists – information that many supporters of abortion rights are desperately trying to keep from the American public.

For example, how many people know that a woman who has an induced abortion is six times more likely to commit suicide than a similar woman who has carried her pregnancy to term (Gissler et al., British Medical Journal, 1996)?

As a future member of a health care field that is striving for evidence-based practice, I was shocked to discover some of the medical, physical, psychological, and economical impacts of the past 30 years of legalized abortion on women. Did you know that there is a link between breast cancer and abortion? The only quantitative literature review that has been published found that abortion is an independent risk factor for breast cancer (Brind et al., J Epidemiol Community Health, 1996). In fact, in one study, all 12 of the women who had a family history of breast cancer and who had an abortion before the age of 18 developed breast cancer by the age of 30 (Darling et al., Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 1994). The researchers were forced to conclude that the relative risk for developing breast cancer for women who meet these criteria is infinity. Is this scary to anyone other than me?

Even more exasperating to me was the reaction of innumerable members of the medical community. Many (including a professor at Harvard Medical School) who acknowledge the breast cancer-abortion link privately refuse to speak publicly at conferences or to their own patients about this risk. Why? The answers given were that they feel the subject is “too political” or that they didn’t want to lose their jobs. My question is: what ever happened to personal and professonal integrity?

As soon as the link between cigarette smoking and cancer became known, the information was disseminated amongst the American public, and the Surgeon General required that a warning be placed on all cigarettes. Yet, members of the medical community – professionals whose job it is to promote health and wellness – are allowing women at risk for breast cancer to remain ignorant of the fact that they are indeed at risk. How many women in their 20s and 30s receive regular mammograms? I would guess that the answer is not many. However, many women in their 20s and 30s who have had an abortion should be taking this health precaution because they are at risk.

Regardless of which side of the abortion debate you find yourself on, if you truly care about women, you should confidently allow this information and other research showing that abortion is, in fact, harmful to women to be made known to the general public. The editorial states: “People must know all of their options to make the best decision for them.” I could not agree more. Women should be allowed to make a truly informed decision when struggling with the agonizing decision of abortion. To be able to do that, we need to educate women on the findings of all available research. This letter is not about whether or not abortion is morally wrong, nor is it about whether or not abortion upon demand should remain legal in this country. I am writing because I am concerned about ALL my fellow women.

Christine Songy SAR, PT Grad Student, ’04

(617) 352-5458