Missing the link?

National | HEALTH: Abortionists do not want to tell women about the likely connection between abortion and breast cancer, but as Breast Cancer Awareness Month arrives, some states are making sure that pregnant women are informed | Lynn Vincent

IN FEBRUARY 2002, CHARNETTE Messe found something many women search for but hope never to find: a lump under her arm. The Groton, Conn., mother of a preschooler quickly consulted her doctor. But because Mrs. Messe was only 30, and had no immediate family history of breast cancer, the doctor at first said a mammogram was unnecessary.

Mrs. Messe did not agree. In the past, she'd used Depo-Provera, a birth-control medication that elevates the risk of breast cancer. Also, at age 20, before marrying, she had had an abortion.

"I knew about the abortionÐbreast cancer link," said Mrs. Messe. "I demanded a mammogram." It was during the test, administered a month later, that she first knew something was profoundly wrong: "I was joking around with the technician, and the next thing I know, she's not smiling anymore."