ABORTION & PUBLIC HEALTH--UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

By Dr. Len Horowitz

President, Tetrahedron, LLC Incorporated
Contact: tetra@tetrahedron.org


The vast majority of studies undoubtedly conclude that women who undergo abortions are placed at increased risk of breast cancer. This might be expected and partially explained as such a surgical stress can have a profound effect on the woman's immune and endocrine (hormonal) systems which play a major role in preventing natural or induced cancers from growing.


To me, however, the abortion issue, currently debated by pro-life versus pro-choice advocates, raises greater medical/ethical/moral/social/political questions. The greatest question to be answered for any sensible public health policy to be established is the question of cost/benefit and risk/benefit of the procedure to society. To date, as these data indicate, abortion may cost the public's health far more than is realized.


Moreover, the larger question is, "Given that new life appears to begin at the moment of fertilization/conception, at minimum on the cellular level, and at maximum spiritually, does abortion--destroying a potentially magnificent versus  troubled life in the hope that it may benefit the parent(s) or society as a whole--offer a positive return on the choice/investment?" To date, all the factors have not been satisfactorily analyzed to answer the question. 


After considerable thought on the issue, my personal bias, which I offer as a medical educator and humanitarian, is pro-life. The fact that the major untested rationale for abortion--to ease the parent(s) or community's suffering--is less than what I would hope for in an enlightened world. Is there so little hope for us that, rather than focusing our vast wealth on saving and enriching lives for everyone's benefit, we continuously choose to use our resources to destroy things?