Friday, October 05, 2007

Abortion causes acne (and other bullshit)

Ooh! Ooh! Well... it could be true! Look at the numbers this way and that way and twist them around and around and upside-down, and I just bet you could show that there are women who became acne-prone sometime in their lives after having an abortion. And women who didn't have an abortion who remained clear-skinned. Meaning (obviously): abortion causes acne! Well, close enough...

You know where this is going. Fetus fetishists were all a-twitter with pee running down their legs yesterday at a new "Study" that supposedly shows *YAWN* abortion causes breast cancer. Yesterday it was on every wingnut site from here to Hucktooee -- but strangely, not reported on a single medical website. Apart from lifesite and its clones, and some pretendy-ish medical-ish-looking anti-choice cover sites, not a word anywhere about this Breakthrough Study. Butbutbut -- why?

Well, it could be because it's a "retrospective study" -- largely considered meaningless because the stats are gleaned from elsewhere and "re-interpreted", in this case by Patrick Carroll of something called "PAPRI". No, that's not Doctor Patrick Carroll, just plain old Patrick Carroll, a statistician; PAPRI is the "Pension & Population Research Institute", and Mr. Carroll appears to be the lone employee. From what I can gather, PAPRI does studies and tries to sell them to interested parties. Could it be that PAPRI thought the fetus fetishists might be a good touch for a few bucks if they cooked up a little study showing their holy grail, an abortion-breast cancer link? Could it be that the study is OLD and recycled? Could it be that the study was funded by an anti-choice group and is therefore all bullshit?
Carroll published a previous study trying to establish an abortion-breast cancer link in 2001. A CNSNews.com article stated that it was "commissioned by a British pro-life group." the British group Life. That appears to be this group; it argues against abortion even in cases of rape and fetal deformity. That's a red flag; a "pro-life group" would only be interested in funding research that attacks abortion, which makes the results suspect. Indeed, in his new study, Carroll states: "Particular thanks are due to the charities LIFE and The Medical Education Trust, which funded the research." The Medical Education Trust appears to be another British anti-abortion group; it lists among its publications "Induced Abortion: Hazards to Health and Future Motherhood." WND does not mention that "pro-life" groups funded Carroll's research.
And so, another so-called "study" bites the dust. You have to wonder how badly they want to punish us, that they keep flogging this particular dead horse. It's creepy, really.