Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
August 16, 2000
Pro-lifers say lawsuits against abortion on rise
By Lou Panarale
WASHINGTON (CNS) - A cancer researcher, a lawyer and the leader of a post-abortion ministry warned the abortion industry it may face a barrage of lawsuits for not informing women about a possible link between induced abortion and increased risk of breast cancer.
The three spoke Aug. 9 at a press conference at the National Press Club sponsored by the American Life League.
In announcing the press conference, the league said, "If you think you've seen major litigation against big tobacco, just wait until the dam breaks against the abortion industry."
Joel Brind, an endocrinologist who since 1981 has been studying the connection between induced abortion and breast cancer, said national health agencies are "covering up this connection."
Many in the medical community have disputed that an abortion-breast cancer link exists, but Brind says he now has 34 studies showing a connection - and most of the studies were funded by the National Cancer Institute, or NCI.
He said that as the "gatekeepers of public knowledge of health hazards of every description," the cancer institute, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services "have for many years now, both passively and actively, helped to perpetuate the myth of `safe abortion."'
"How many of you are aware that the first study - an NCI study - which looked at the effect of induced abortion on the risk of breast cancer in American women, found those who had chosen abortion to be at 140 percent increased risk?" Brind asked at the press conference.
"How many of you know that the only study yet published which was specifically commissioned by the NCI reported a significant 50 percent increased risk of breast cancer overall?"
John Kindley, lead attorney for a woman who is suing a North Dakota clinic, said an abortion provider has a duty "to disclose the risks not only of breast cancer but also of post-abortion psychological trauma."
He said the Red River Women's Clinic in Fargo, N.D., is being sued for "not only failing to warn women about the abortion-breast cancer link" but also for saying in a brochure that there is no evidence of such a link.
He added that "the decision as to how much evidence of a link must accumulate before its existence must be disclosed cannot be left to the abortion industry, any more than it could be left to the tobacco industry."
As for the psychological risks of abortion, he said, "the idea of lawsuits based on failure to fully disclose the risks of emotional distress following an abortion may strike some as far-fetched."
He said too often it has been assumed that a women who is about to undergo an abortion understands the emotional distress she will encounter afterward.
"It is not paternalistic to admit that a woman in a crisis pregnancy with its troubled whirlwind of circumstances may need counseling and objective help in coming to a decision, not just a clinic employee ... reassuring her `everything will be OK,"' Kindley said.
The third speaker, Theresa Burke, founder of the Rachel's Vineyard Ministries division of the American Life League, said that "women have been led to believe abortion is a safety net when it's a safety hazard."
"Women can sue abortion providers for not telling them this. There are millions of potential clients who can seek redress in the courts," said Burke, whose ministry offers weekend retreats to help women heal from post-abortion trauma.
Women seeking abortions "cannot remain uneducated regarding the symptoms and pre-disposing risk factors of trauma. Ignorance of alternatives does not constitute a choice," she said.
Burke said she has traveled all over the country and heard "a thousand stories of bitter grief and regret" over abortion.
