Concluding a three-day conference at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Maryland, breast cancer researchers today confidently announced that the strongest statistical evidence shows no link between abortion and breast cancer. This finding foils the latest attempt by the Bush Administration and its anti-abortion supporters to impose a conservative ideology upon the evidence-based scientific and medical community. Conference attendees, including some of the nation’s most prominent breast cancer researchers, are now urging the NCI to reinsert language on its website affirming that no association exists between breast cancer and abortion.
In light of the Bush Administration’s systematic attack on science and medicine, abortion rights advocates were relieved at the conference’s outcome. “The scientific, medical and women’s rights communities, however, must continue to draw attention to the Bush Administration’s stealth mission to undermine the integrity of the scientific process by conservatively stacking various scientific panels and committees as a political payback to religious fundamentalists,” said Beth Jordan, MD, medical director of the Feminist Majority Foundation.
Last year, the Bush Administration significantly altered online fact sheets, leading many to question the political motivations behind some of the most important health institutions in the US. Specifically, two Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) online fact sheets on condoms and STI prevention deleted information on proper condom usage and the efficacies of various condom types in preventing STIs and unwanted pregnancy. The NCI fact sheet, which previously stated that scientific evidence overwhelmingly denied the link between abortion and breast cancer, was modified–calling the data “inconsistent.”
TAKE ACTION Urge that the NCI Adhere to the Highest Level of Scientific Integrity
CHAT March 13 @ 3pmEST: “Science vs. Religion under the Bush Administration” with FMF’s Medical Director Dr. Beth Jordan
