BOM: Questions and Answers

And now . . . your questions and answers about THE PROPOSAL . . . or whatever else you asked. :-)

Betsy asked what I learned about God during the writing of this book: I'd like to sound spiritual and say I learned something amazing, but this book was more about educating myself--and my readers--about the dangers of abortion and other life issues. Theodora, my protagonist, learns that it's best to consult the Lord before flying off in pursuit of a dream, but that's something I've been learning all my life. The writing of this book was a nice reminder, though.

Christy asked: Do you happen to know the mechanism of breast cancer after abortion? I guess I'm mostly wondering if having a spontaneous abortion (miscarriage) also puts you at higher risk for breast cancer. Is it due to a body's reaction to the loss of pregnancy or is it something related to the performed abortion procedure? Thanks!

Actually, it's neither. As I understand it, when a woman becomes pregnant, her breast cells begin to change so that she'll be able to nurse when the baby is born. When the pregnancy is terminated before the birth (and before the breast cell change is complete), the cells are left in a state of flux. This, it is supposed, is what may make them more susceptible to cancer (which is uncontrolled cell growth).

Now--if a woman miscarries, does this leave her in the same situation? See the official explanation below from www.abortionbreastcancer.com :

A never-pregnant woman has a network of primitive, immature and
cancer-vulnerable breast cells which make up her milk glands. It is only in the
third trimester of pregnancy - after 32 weeks gestation - that her cells start
to mature and are fashioned into milk producing tissue whose cells are cancer
resistant.

When a woman becomes pregnant, her breasts enlarge. This
occurs because a hormone called estradiol, a type of estrogen, causes both the
normal and pre-cancerous cells in the breast to multiply terrifically. This
process is called “proliferation.” By 7 to 8 weeks gestation, the estradiol
level has increased by 500% over what it was at the time of conception.
If the pregnancy is carried to term, a second process called “differentiation”
takes place. Differentiation is the shaping of cells into milk producing tissue.
It shuts off the cell multiplication process. This takes place at approximately
32 weeks gestation.

If the pregnancy is aborted, the woman is left with more undifferentiated -- and therefore cancer-vulnerable cells -- than she had before she was pregnant. On the other hand, a full term pregnancy leaves a woman with more milk producing differentiated cells, which means that she has fewer cancer-vulnerable cells in her breasts than she did before the pregnancy.
In contrast, research has shown that most miscarriages do not raise breast cancer
risk. This is due to a lack of estrogen overexposure. Miscarriages are frequently precipitated by a decline in the production of progesterone which is needed to maintain a pregnancy. Estrogen is made from progesterone, so the levels of each hormone rise and fall together during pregnancy.

For a thorough biological explanation of the abortion-breast cancer link, see this second website for the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute, http://www.bcpinstitute.org/ and click on its online booklet, “Breast Cancer Risks and Prevention.”

For further reading, visit this link: http://www.abortionbreastcancer.com/start/ .

On another front--good news! MAGDALENE may be optioned by a movie company! We're currently discussing details . . .

~~Angie