“Can repeated abortions cause cancer?”
I've had 2 abortions. I was young when I had them both, and now I regret it. But I also heard a rumor that there could be a connection between abortions and breast cancer. Is this true? Has there been any research around this yet?
3 Answers
Hello. Breast cancer is a serious illness in women. There has been much research on potential causes of breast cancer. The illness can be caused by familial genetic factors. It can also occur spontaneously in women without predisposing factors. It is important that all women be followed and obtain testing to be certain that no cancers arise. Early diagnosis is important to be able to cure this illness. Many answers to questions and recommended follow up and testing can be found in documents published by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) (nccn.org). There are also papers about the risks of abortion on the development of breast cancer. One important paper is by Y. Deng md published in Medicine in 2018. “Induced abortion and breast cancer an updated meta-analysis”. The data is not clear but there is a possible linkage but the analysis states that there is no clear causative linkage. It is important, though, that you obtain follow up with your doctor and obtain recommended examinations on a regular basis.
Probably not, BUT in general, Gyn malfunction increases risk of Gyn cancers. Doubt if an elective abortion constitutes a risk. A natural miscarriage, especially multiple, probably carries a risk. All statistics would need to take birth control pills as protection into account, so old statistics might not apply.
There is no known real association between the two. You are fine.
