It is true that women who don’t have children are at a higher risk of breast cancer as well as women who delay childbreaing past their 20s. Bizarrely, that unfortunate truth is distorted by anti-choice foes to falsely claim the abortion causes breast cancer. Abortion does not affect a woman's risk of breast cancer other than by way of stopping the protective effect of bringing a child to term…and…pregnancy that is halted by late abortion may, in theory, be protective against breast cancer to some degree, so…abortion may be a protective mechanism against breast cancer, depending upon the stage at which termination is done. But….that is all so much here nor there, because NO woman should produce a child just to protect herself from disease, (as suggested by the anti-choice crew) and NO woman should conceive and then terminate in order to protect herself from disease. (any protective effect of late termination is strictly theory) And…the act of carrying a fetus may induce autoimmune disease down the line for genetically susceptible women, so…if they Really want to talk about that…FemiSex can do GO Time with anti-choicers any day of the week.

So what about using what we know to help women who wait to procreate or don’t bear children to protect themselves from breast cancer? Well…here is some interesting news from the American Association for Cancer Research:

Researchers have found that hormones produced during pregnancy induce a protein that directly inhibits the growth of breast cancer. This protein, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), may serve as a viable, well-tolerated agent for the treatment and prevention of breast cancer.

Recent studies have shown that hormones released during pregnancy, such as estrogen, progesterone and human chorionic gonadotropin, reduce a women's risk for breast cancer. AFP is a protein normally produced by the liver and yolk sac of a fetus.

"The body has a natural defense system against breast cancer," "AFP needs to be safely harnessed and developed into a drug that can be used to protect women from breast cancer."

So while the drug is nowhere near ready, findings that inducing AFP production is protective against tumors in lab animals is encouraging. Finding ways of harnessing AFP into a drug that is protective against breast cancer is where money and effort is going now!
Three cheers for some encouraging news!