Karen Malec
Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer
Press Release
Contact: Karen Malec, 847-421-4000
Date: March 20, 2014
Reproduced with Permission
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Tuesday, March 25, 2014 in two lawsuits involving Hobby Lobby Stores and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corporation that challenge ObamaCare's contraceptive mandate. It coerces employers to purchase insurance coverage for "free" contraceptive and abortion-inducing hormonal steroids and sterilizations for employees, despite employers' first amendment rights to religious freedom.
The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer and other groups, represented by attorneys at the Bioethics Defense Fund, filed an
amicus brief
(as "friends" of the court).[1] Karen Malec, the Coalition's president, said:
"We contest the Obama administration's absurd claim that use of contraceptive steroids constitutes women's 'preventative' healthcare. In 2005, the World Health Organization classified the birth control pill as a Group 1 cancer-causing substance for cancers of the breast, liver and cervix."[2,3]
"Although the WHO said the Pill reduces risk for cancers of the endometrium and ovaries, the number of breast cancer cases every year in the U.S. is four times greater than the number of cases of ovarian and endometrial cancers combined."[4]
Supreme Court justices will learn about these additional health risks as they read the
brief:
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1) The Pill (which can be delivered orally or via skin patch, vaginal ring or injection): increased risks for heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular complications and greater susceptibility to sexually transmitted diseases;
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2) ParaGard Intrauterine Copper IUD: "can result in uterine perforation and other malpositioning that can result in increased bleeding or pain, and injury or damage to the surrounding organs;"
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3) Mirena IUD (which releases levonorgestrel, a synthetic steroid hormone, into the uterine environment): risks include uterine perforation, pelvic inflammatory disease and (if conception occurs during use) miscarriage and possible permanent loss of fertility;
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4) Implanon (an implant rod that releases a steroidal progestogen): increased risks of ectopic pregnancy and (as per manufacturer's warning) "serious thromboembolic events, including cases of pulmonary emboli (some fatal) and strokes;"
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5) Depo Provera (an injectable steroidal progestogen): increased risks for breast cancer, loss of bone mineral density and HIV; and
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6) Increased Cancer Risk to Teenaged Girls.
"Clearly, the Obama administration is doing what's best for big business - Big Pharma and Big Abortion - despite the harm its mandate will inflict on women's health," asserted Mrs. Malec.
Additional amici represented in the
brief
include the Polycarp Research Institute, the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute, CatholicVote and 286 members of Legatus.
The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer is an international women's organization founded to protect the health and save the lives of women by educating and providing information on abortion as a risk factor for breast cancer.
References:
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1.
Brief Amici Curiae of Breast Cancer Prevention Institute, Polycarp Research Institute and Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer, 286 Members of Legatus and Catholic Vote as Amici Curiae in Support of Hobby Lobby et al. and Conestoga et al.
Supreme Court of the United States; Nos. 13-354 & 13-356. Available at:
http://bdfund.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/FILEDBDFHobbyLobbySCOTUS.pdf.
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2. Press Release No. 167, "IARC Monographs Programme Finds Combined Estrogen-Progestogen Contraceptives (the "pill") and Menopausal Therapy Are Carcinogenic to Humans," World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer, July 29, 2005. See
http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2005/pr167.html.
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3. Cogliano V, Grosse Y, Baan R, Straif K, Secretan B, El Ghissassi F. Carcinogenicity of combined oestrogen-progestagen contraceptives and menopausal treatment.
Lancet Oncology
2005;6:552-553.
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4. The expected number of invasive breast cancers for American females is 232,340. The expected number of in situ (early) breast cancers is 64,640. American Cancer Society, Cancer Facts and Figures 2013, available at:
http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/content/@epidemiologysurveilance/documents/document/ acspc-036845.pdf
(In situ breast cancers are reported in small print at the bottom of page 4 entitled, "Estimated number of new cancer cases and deaths by sex, US, 2013").
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