Aww, too bad: no Abortion-Breast Cancer link
And the fundies were so counting on it. Jeebus will have to find another way to punish evil sluts who have abortions... tooth decay? The heartbreak of psoriasis? More to the point, anti-choicers will have to find some other way to terrify women who want abortions, because this one's toast. Birth Pangs has the details on the latest research that breaks the fundies' crayons by putting the idiotic Abortion-Breast Cancer meme to rest.
The goofy "ABC" canard originated with flawed studies done back in the early 90's. Since then it's been refuted by study after study and breast cancer experts like Dr. Susan Love. But in spite of all the evidence against it, the ABC link still pops up regularly on social conservative websites and blogs (usually preceded by a screaming big-ass headline that translates to "you're fucked!"). With so many studies contradicting this, it's obvious that anti-choicers knowingly disseminate complete and utter bullshit just to terrify women. They use their beloved "ABC link" the same way the Bush administration used the scant and questionable intelligence on WMD in Iraq -- overwhelming evidence to the contrary was just ignored because it didn't fit the agenda.
So what are they saying about it now? It appears they've ratcheted the message down a bit, saying the #1 danger of abortion is that it "denies women the opportunity to reduce their breast cancer risk through childbearing" or some such happy horseshit. Quite a ways from "cause and effect". But even this is disingenuous since having an abortion doesn't prevent a woman from having future pregnancies when she's good and ready to have them. And of course, that's what this is all about: "When she's good and ready to have them".
Although the evidence against it is clearly in (and in, and in again), I expect "the link" to re-appear in anti-choice websites again soon; it's just too good to give up. They'll stop flogging this dead pony the day Dick Cheney admits there's no link between Iraq and al qaeda. The agenda trumps the facts, always.
The goofy "ABC" canard originated with flawed studies done back in the early 90's. Since then it's been refuted by study after study and breast cancer experts like Dr. Susan Love. But in spite of all the evidence against it, the ABC link still pops up regularly on social conservative websites and blogs (usually preceded by a screaming big-ass headline that translates to "you're fucked!"). With so many studies contradicting this, it's obvious that anti-choicers knowingly disseminate complete and utter bullshit just to terrify women. They use their beloved "ABC link" the same way the Bush administration used the scant and questionable intelligence on WMD in Iraq -- overwhelming evidence to the contrary was just ignored because it didn't fit the agenda.
So what are they saying about it now? It appears they've ratcheted the message down a bit, saying the #1 danger of abortion is that it "denies women the opportunity to reduce their breast cancer risk through childbearing" or some such happy horseshit. Quite a ways from "cause and effect". But even this is disingenuous since having an abortion doesn't prevent a woman from having future pregnancies when she's good and ready to have them. And of course, that's what this is all about: "When she's good and ready to have them".
Although the evidence against it is clearly in (and in, and in again), I expect "the link" to re-appear in anti-choice websites again soon; it's just too good to give up. They'll stop flogging this dead pony the day Dick Cheney admits there's no link between Iraq and al qaeda. The agenda trumps the facts, always.
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