Nothing too Sacred

October is breast cancer awareness month. A time for pink ribbons, fund-raisers, and anti-choice extremists. Anti-choicers have always been eager to capitalize on any issue where women may feel vulnerable and helpless. What better approach than to blame one of the most common cancers on abortion?

Billboards, placards, ads, articles, and blogs are "informing" the public about their abortion-breast cancer hypothesis. Here is a sample of some particularly awesome letters-to-the-editor and articles published in the last few weeks:

• “How many women has [abortion] put at risk for breast cancer?"

• “There is also evidence that abortion raises a woman's risk of breast cancer.”

• “obstetricians should tell women considering an abortion that it does carry a risk of cancer."
  

• “When you talk to women that have had abortions they often times have a higher rate of breast cancer and they have emotional problems.”

Now let’s contrast that with...

• The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists: “More rigorous recent scientific studies demonstrate no casual relationship between induced abortion and subsequent increase in breast cancer risk” (2009)

• The Society for Obstetrics and Gynecology of Canada “A history of induced or spontaneous abortions is not associated with an increased risk of breast cancer” (2005) (pdf file)
  

• The Canadian Cancer Society: “At the present time, the body of scientific evidence does not support an association between abortion and increased breast cancer risk.”
  

• The National Cancer Institute: “newer studies consistently showed no association between induced and spontaneous abortions and breast cancer risk.”
  

• The Lancet: a “collaborative re-analysis of 53 epidemiological studies including 83,000 women with breast cancer” concluded that “pregnancies that end as a spontaneous or induced abortion do not increase a woman's risk of developing breast cancer” (2004)

Despite the ever growing evidence and the firm statements from major medical organizations, the abortion-breast cancer myth persists. Several organizations exist with the sole purpose of spreading these lies to as many women as possible. This is repulsive on many levels. The research they cite is often so flagrantly distorted that it can only be published by the most obscure medical journals (This widely touted study was published in a journal with an abysmal impact factor of 1.0)* Seriously, this level of scientific rigor** wouldn’t even be allowed in junior high. Furthermore, it is insulting that they would use such a serious and debilitating disease as a scare-tactic to advance their anti-choice (and anti-women) goals.

Our breasts, our uteri, our choices, and our lives have been made into their battlefields. Nothing about us is too sacred to be exploited for their ideological gain. And yet they tell us that we lack respect for the sacredness of life. Perhaps the irony escapes them. More likely, though, they just don't care.




footnotes:

* impact factor is a measure of a journal's relative importance in the scientific community. The higher the number, the better.

** This"research" actually consisted of looking up abortion rates and breast cancer rates in different countries. Some countries with high breast cancer rates also had high abortion rates; therefore, the "logical" conclusion was that abortion is a risk factor for breast cancer!

Fighting Words

The anti-choice movement has never really been about "saving babies" or "protecting women". At the very heart of their beliefs, motivations, and discourse has been distrust and disrespect towards women. It is one of the few places in society where blatant misogyny is still celebrated. This becomes very apparent when looking at the language used by the anti-choice movement in comparison to the pro-choice movement. Below are two Wordle images - one from an anti-choice site, the other from a pro-choice site. For those of you who are not familiar with Wordle, it is an online program which takes text from web pages and displays the most commonly used words in an artistic way. The bigger the word, the more often it was used on the website. Look at the results:

This first image was generated from the anti-choice website LifeBeginsAtConception

This second image was generated from the pro-choice website AbortionClinicDays


The results speak for themselves.

Copper IUD vs. Levonorgestrel IUD

I have received a lot of questions concerning the differences between the copper IUD and the LNG-IUD (levonorgestrel, also known as Mirena). I made this chart in hopes of providing an easy comparison between the two. Please let me know if there is anything I am missing anything.

I love IUDs (and you should too)

I am part of a growing number of health care providers who believe that an intrauterine device (IUD) should be the first-line contraceptive choice for women. IUDs are extremely safe, highly effective, and very convenient. Many of the doctors I work with call it "reversible sterilization" because it prevents pregnancy at a rate comparable to tubal ligation but it is completely and quickly reversible. New research shows that IUDs are a great choice women who have never been pregnant and adolescents. It can also be used for non-contraceptive purposes as well. Some IUDs reduce heavy periods and minimize menstrual cramping. They can also protect against endometrial cancer and they provide an alternative to hysterectomy for many women with perimenopausal bleeding.

I got my IUD as a young adolescent, well before I even started having sex. I had to see 4 separate doctors who told me that it wasn't a good choice, that I could not have one, and that it was very dangerous. I finally found an ob/gyne who knew the research and gladly helped me get my IUD. 7 years later, I am still raving about it, and that ob/gyne has become my teacher and mentor as a medical student. Together we have been working to combat the myths that exist amongst the public and within the medical community surrounding what we feel is the most awesome form of birth control.

There is plenty of info available online about IUDs, but, surprisingly, a lot of it is still inaccurate. Even progressive, feminist websites often have incorrect information about IUDs. I wanted to address some of these myths and misinformation in my next few blog posts. My hope and dream is that IUDs will one day become the most commonly used form of contraceptive.

Post Anti-Abortion Syndrome

I made this poster in response to all the bullshit ads and websites about "post-abortion syndrome"

A Neglected Crisis

Dr. Mahmoud Fathalla, former President of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics, stated, “pregnancy related deaths are the ultimate tragic outcome of the cumulative denial of women’s rights”. Nowhere is this truer than with the death and suffering of women who have had unsafe abortions. 13% of maternal deaths worldwide are the result unsafe abortion, which is defined as “a procedure for terminating an unintended pregnancy either by individuals without the necessary skills or in an environment that does not conform to minimum medical standards or both”.1 Documented methods include drinking bleach or turpentine, inserting sticks, bones, wires, or catheters into the uterus, using caustic herbs in the vagina, and jumping from the top of a flight of stairs on to the stomach.

Of an estimated 42 million abortions every year, 21.8 million are considered unsafe. In addition, there are approximately 25 million unsafe failed abortion attempts per year.1 The results of denying women access to this basic right are staggering; each year, 67 000 women die, 5 million are hospitalized for serious complications, 1.7 million become infertile, and 220 000 children are orphaned. 2

This tragedy is magnified by the fact that it is entirely preventable. In countries where abortion is legal, it is “one of the safest procedures in contemporary medical practice”.3 Contrary to popular opinion, legalizing abortion does not increase abortion rates. In fact, abortion rates are lowest in the places where it is freely and easily accessible to all women.2

The topic of abortion is mired in social stigma. We spend so much time tiptoeing around abortion as an “ethical controversy” that we miss out entirely on abortion as a global health crisis. Through our reluctance to be involved, we have merely perpetuated this injustice. Unsafe abortion will continue to be a neglected crisis until those of us in developed world, who have the resources and opportunities to create lasting change, refuse to remain silent any longer.


Sources:
1. Unsafe Abortion: Global and regional estimates of the incidence of unsafe abortion and associated mortality in 2003. 5th Ed. World Health Organization, 2007.
2. Facts on Induced Abortion Worldwide. Guttmacher Institute, October 2007.
3. Grimes et al., Unsafe Abortion: The preventable pandemic. World Health Organization – Sexual and Reproductive Health. October, 2006.

A Straight White Man's Guide to Stopping Abortion

A Straight White Man’s Guide to Stopping Abortion

Stop raping women and molesting children
4.7% of adult women who have been raped will become pregnant
1-2% of women seeking an abortion report that their pregnancy was the result of rape and/or incest (significantly under reported)
Survivors of childhood sexual assault are significantly more likely to have unplanned pregnancies later in life and have a three fold increase in teen pregnancy.
Approximately 60% of women who became pregnant as teenagers had a history of sexual abuse.
11-20% of teen pregnancies are the direct result of sexual assault

Invent a form of birth control that actually works
Over 55% of women seeking an abortion had been using a form of birth control regularly
Women will experience 1.8 contraceptive failures (i.e. pregnancies) over their lifetime if using reversible forms of birth control (pill, patch, condom, diaphragm, etc)

Empower young people to be informed and in control of their sexual health
there is no evidence to date that abstinence-only education delays teen sexual activity. Moreover, recent research shows that abstinence-only strategies may deter contraceptive use among sexually active teens, increasing their risk of unintended pregnancy and STIs

Value women in the workplace
Up to 75% of women seeking an abortion believe that having a baby would jeopardize their career or education. They fear losing their job, being denied advancement in the workplace, not being provided the time off necessary to have a baby, and not having the support and schedule flexibility to raise a child while working

Start taking responsibility for your own children and support your female partners.
50% of women seeking an abortion either have an unsupportive or abusive partner or they do not have a partner at all and they fear single motherhood.

Increase the accessibility of emergency contraceptive
As much as 43% of the decline in abortion between 1994 and 2000 can be attributed to the use of emergency contraception

Support programs that provide education and resources to women in the developing world
Education level is the most important factor in predicting the number of children and pregnancies a woman will have in the developing world
Interventions which provide education and support to women in poverty decrease both the birth rate and the rate of abortion

Leave no sperm behind
Women with male partners who are active and open participants in the choice and use of birth control methods are less likely to face unexpected pregnancy
Condom use significantly decreases the likelihood of unplanned pregnancy – yet the main reasons why they are not more commonly used are “reduction in male pleasure”, “hassle to deal with”, “getting carried away in the moment” and “not having a condom available”

Quit vilifying women who do not comply to the “standard model” of motherhood
Single mothers, working mothers, mothers whose children are in childcare, mothers who have demanding careers, mothers in non-traditional relationships, mothers who struggle with addiction and/or health problems etc. all experience tremendous discrimination for their choices. Is it really a surprise then that many women are not willing to face this type of disparagement?

Improve social assistance and welfare programs
60% of women cite major financial concerns as being a significant factor in their decision to terminate their pregnancy.
The abortion rate of women living below the poverty line is four times as high as the rate for women 300% above the poverty line

Speak out against gender and racial inequity
There has been an estimated 10 million “sex-selective” abortions of female fetuses
Compared to white women, Black women are 3 times as likely, Hispanic women are 2.5 times as likely to have an abortion.
Aboriginal women have highest rate of abortion in Canada.

1. Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2002 Mar-Apr;34(2):68-75
2. Boyer, D. & Fine, D. (1992). Sexual abuse as a factor in adolescent pregnancy and child maltreatment. Family Planning Perspectives,24,
3. Alan Guttmacher Institute, Induced Abortion, Facts in Brief, 2002. Web: www.guttmacher.org .
4. Center for Diseases Control Rape Fact Sheet 2/2000
5. Kirby D, Emerging Answers: Research Findings on Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy, Washington, DC: National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2001;
6. A.G. Vishnevsky, "Family, Fertility and Demographic Dynamics," ibid., pp. 1-35
7. Reaney, Patricia. (2006-01-09). "Selective abortion blamed for India's missing girls." Reuters AlertNet. Retrieved 2006-01-09.
(credit for the title goes to a strong, articulate, inspiring woman I met in my first year of university)