Women have a right to know: testimony before the Massachusetts Joint Health Care Committee.

• Author: Lanfranchi, Angela
• Position: Breast cancer and abortion

I, Angela Lanfranchi, M.D., testified on June 11, 2003 before this Committee in support of H.R. 2960 an Act Relative to Patient's Rights about the scientific and medical data regarding the link between breast cancer and abortion. My testimony is summarized herein for the benefit of those Committee members absent from the hearing.

In May, 1975, I received my M.D. from the Georgetown Medical School in Washington D.C. I became Board Certified in General Surgery in 1983 and was recertified in 1993. I am a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. I have been in practice with Surgical Associates of Central New Jersey for 18 years. I have held an appointment as Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery at Robert Wood Johnson University Medical School since 1986. I teach Family Practice residents surgery at my primary hospital, Somerset Medical Center. I am a member of an Expert Advisory Panel for the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners.

I am co-director of the Breast Center at Somerset Medical Center. I have limited my elective practice of surgery to breast diseases, including breast cancer, for approximately the past 8 years. I see approximately 1200-1300 patients with breast problems a year and perform over 500 breast surgeries a year. I regularly give Grand Rounds lectures on breast topics to the Departments of Medicine and Family Practice at Somerset Medical Center and speak to breast cancer survivor groups and volunteers of the local chapter of the American Cancer Society. I have lectured to lay and professional groups both nationally and internationally on breast cancer risks and prevention and on the abortion breast cancer link. A local non-profit organization, Women's Health and Counseling Center, has recognized me, for my contributions to women's health in my local community.

It is my professional opinion, based upon my professional training, experience, and my study of the relevant peer-reviewed medical literature, that an overwhelming preponderance of the evidence indicates that induced abortion increases risk of breast cancer. In short, interrupting a normal pregnancy with abortion leaves a woman with an increase in the number of undifferentiated breast cells [the Type 1 and 2 lobules] that are more susceptible to carcinogens. These carcinogens include estrogen, a type of hormone found in hormone replacement therapy and birth control pills. Abortion of a first pregnancy is especially harmful and most damaging to teenagers. Many...