An obstetrician in Davao City yesterday criticized organizers of an international campaign for breast cancer awareness for ignoring abortion and oral contraception as possible causes of the deadly disease.

October marks Breast Cancer Awareness month in many countries and Pink Ribbon Breast Cancer International, a US-based non-profit public charity, is leading a campaign to raise funds for breast cancer research and awareness.

Obstetrician, Eleanor Palayab, is joining a Davao Cancer Society drive in Davao City this Sunday that will provide free breast examinations, breast ultrasound, and advice to women.

However, she says both the local and international campaign is failing to highlight the link abortion and oral contraception has with breast cancer.

“I campaign to educate people about the risks of using oral contraceptives because I’m a pro-life obstetrician and I’m passionately against anybody taking the pill.” she said, adding: “Other obstetricians do not attach great importance to the oral contraceptive-breast cancer link.

Citing studies that supposedly show that use of the pill over a period as short as five years raises the risk of breast cancer, she said: “I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t pay attention to it [the risk].” She also spoke of studies linking young women who have had abortions and breast cancer.

Oral contraceptives are listed as a carcinogen by the International Agency for Cancer Research, Palayab added.

She also pointed to an article in Crisis Magazine, an online publication run by US Catholics, which criticized awareness efforts linked to the “pink” campaigns.

According to the article “The Dark Side of ‘Thinking Pink’,” by Matthew Hanley, the pink campaign fails to “feature some factors known to reduce breast cancer risk: having children, avoiding induced abortions, and refraining from oral contraceptives.”