Contact: Karen Malec, Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer, 847-421-4000

MEDIA ADVISORY, Dec. 2 /Standard Newswire/ -- A new article in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons says African American women are being disproportionately exposed to an unsafe surgical procedure that is a "probable cause" of the high preterm birth rate among blacks. [1]

The authors, Brent Rooney and his colleagues, cited numerous studies, the Institute of Medicine, and other authorities acknowledging the abortion-preterm birth (APB) link.

Black Americans are three times more likely to have an early preterm birth (EPB) before 32 weeks gestation and four times more likely to have an extremely preterm birth (XPB) before 28 weeks gestation in comparison with non-black Americans. The risk of cerebral palsy for XPB babies is 129 times greater than that of full-term infants. Blacks represent 12.5% of American females; but 38.2% of all abortions are committed on blacks.

Rooney's group cited Harvard research dating from 1973 showing that only full-term births provide mothers with a significant reduction in breast cancer risk.

"Medical texts have long acknowledged this protective effect," said Karen Malec, president of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer. "A first full-term pregnancy matures 85% of a woman's cancer-susceptible breast lobules into cancer-resistant lobules. Every subsequent full-term pregnancy reduces risk by 10%."

The APB link means a large U.S. financial burden in excess medical malpractice and hospital costs. Rooney's group reported a median damage award of $2 million in cases of medical negligence in childbirth and cited research showing excess neonatal hospital costs totaling over $1.2 billion annually.

Poland reduced its XPB rate by 21% in less than a decade by severely restricting abortion. Poland's 1997 XPB rate is 43% lower than the U.S. rate.

"President-elect Barack Obama and other elected officials should take a lesson from Poland," concluded Malec. "We challenge them to institute a REAL CHANGE in America, instead of throwing more money at the problem, deepening the U.S. economic crisis, participating in genocide, crippling black babies and causing their mothers to develop breast cancer."

The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer is an international women's organization founded to protect the health and save the lives of women by educating and providing information on abortion as a risk factor for breast cancer.

References available online:
www.abortionbreastcancer.com/press_releases/081202/index.htm