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The most up-to-date scientific research suggests that abortion does not influence a woman’s risk for breast cancer.
An abortion happens when a pregnancy is ended before it reaches full term.
There are different types of abortion:
Researchers have looked at how all types of abortion might affect a woman’s chance of getting breast cancer later in life.
The levels of certain hormones in a woman’s body can affect her risk for getting some types of breast cancer.
Hormone levels change during a woman’s lifetime, including during menstrual cycles and pregnancies. Hormone levels also change when an abortion occurs. This has led some researchers to study if abortion changes the risk of breast cancer, too.
Both breast cancer and abortion are also issues that can bring out strong feelings in people. Linking these topics has created a great deal of emotion and debate.
Researchers around the world have studied whether abortion impacts breast cancer risk. Higher-quality studies have generally found no connection between abortion and breast cancer risk, but a few other studies have suggested a possible link between them.
This lack of agreement has led researchers to look at the total body of evidence to try to draw conclusions. For example, expert panels convened by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) looked at the evidence and concluded that abortion is not related to an increased risk of breast cancer.
More recently, other researchers have re-evaluated the available data and generally reached the same conclusions. For example:
In a , researchers re-analyzed the data from all of the studies on abortion and breast cancer risk published up until 2018. They found that women who’ve experienced abortions did not have an increased risk of breast cancer. They also reported potential flaws in the studies that previously indicated abortion might increase the risk of breast cancer.
A from the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine concluded that abortion does not impact a woman’s risk for breast cancer.
Higher-quality studies have generally found no link between abortions and breast cancer risk. Researchers have also found flaws in previous studies that reported abortion may raise a woman’s risk for breast cancer. The best scientific evidence does not support a link between abortion and breast cancer risk.
The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team
Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as editors and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.
Ajmal M, Sunder M, Akinbinu R. Abortion. 2023 Jul 10. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan. PMID: 30085503.
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Committee on Gynecologic Practice. ACOG Committee Opinion. No. 434: Induced Abortion and Breast Cancer Risk. 2009; reaffirmed 2021. Accessed at https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/committee-opinion/articles/2009/06/induced-abortion-and-breast-cancer-risk on March 1, 2024.
Braüner CM, Overvad K, Tj?nneland A, Attermann J. Induced abortion and breast cancer among parous women: A Danish cohort study. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 2013;92:700-705.
Deng Y, Xu H, Zeng X. Induced abortion and breast cancer: An updated meta-analysis. Medicine (Baltimore). 2018 Jan;97(3):e9613.
Henderson KD, Sullivan-Halley J, Reynolds P, et al. Incomplete pregnancy is not associated with breast cancer risk: The California Teachers Study. Contraception. 2008;77:391-396.
Ilic M, Vlajinac H, Marinkovic J, Sipetic-Grujicic S. Abortion and breast cancer: Case-control study. Tumori. 2013;99:452-457.
Melbye M, Wohlfahrt J, Olsen JH, et al. Induced abortion and the risk of breast cancer. N Engl J Med. 1997;336:81-85.
Michels KB, Xue F, Colditz GA, Willett WC. Induced and spontaneous abortion and incidence of breast cancer among young women. Arch Intern Med. 2007;167:814-820.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. The Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the United States. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/24950.
National Cancer Institute. Abortion, Miscarriage, and Breast Cancer Risk: 2003 Workshop. 2010. Accessed at https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/hormones/reproductive-history-fact-sheet#is-abortion-linked-to-breast-cancer-risk on March 1, 2024.
Palmer JR, Wise LA, Adams-Campbell LL, Rosenberg L. A prospective study of induced abortion and breast cancer in African-American women. Cancer Causes Control. 2004;15:105-111.
Paoletti X, Clavel-Chapelon F. Induced and spontaneous abortion and breast cancer risk: Results from the E3N cohort study. Int J Cancer. 2003;106:270-276.
Reeves GK, Kan SW, Key T. Breast cancer risk in relation to abortion: Results from the EPIC study. Int J Cancer. 2006;119:1741-1745.
Tong H, Wu Y, Yan Y, Dong Y, Guan X, Liu Y, Lu Z. No association between abortion and risk of breast cancer among nulliparous women: Evidence from a meta-analysis. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020 May;99(19):e20251.
Last Revised: June 7, 2024
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