Quintana 1

Megan Quintana
Mr. Hendrickson
English 110
Major Writing Assignment 2
Final Draft- Revised
December 2015
Cervical/ Breast Cancer Screenings: The Good and The Bad
Abstract
Cervical/ breast cancer screenings are effective and a very good source of prevention. For
many years now, pap and mammogram tests have been used very frequently by women as a form
of prevention. It has been recommended recently that women receive yearly exams therefore be
diagnosed with one of these cancers early enough can result in remission. However, this is not
the case today. Many women have questioned the fact of receiving their yearly screenings to
check for these major health concerns. In fact, the numbers of women receiving these exams
have decreased in the amount of those who have never been screened (CDC, January 2013).
What exactly is the issue resulting from this and how severe is it? Why are women not getting
screened and are the organizations/ clinics providing these screenings to blame? Is it out of fear?
Do they believe it is irrelevant? Is this part of another civil rights case where women are being
told what to do again? Or, is something just wrong with the tests in general? To address this issue
I plan of seeking out information pertaining to this issue at state, national and international levels
of government to prevent bias. I will conduct research to help better understand these screenings
and find out if controversies are involved in the decision making process by women as of
whether or not they should be screened. Conclusively, most of these questions are partially
correct in this case. In fact, most of the controversies involved with breast/ cervical cancer
screenings effect the rate of reception. However, it is up to the woman to decide on whether or

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not they receive these exams because in all reality there are some false positives involved that are
not being passed on to the recipient. This is a very important issue and could be benefitting
toward women after they know the education behind it all.
Background
As proved by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, also known as the CDC,
cervical cancer is known as the easiest gynecologic cancer to prevent (CDC, March 2014).
However, this happens to only be the case if frequent screenings tests are done to help catch it at
its most treatable stages. There are two different screening tests that can be done to test and help
prevent this particular disease. They include: A Pap test, also known as a Pap smear, and an HPV
test. Each individual test is used for something unique. A Pap screening test helps detect
precancers which is basically abnormal changes noticed on or around the cervix. An HPV
screening test detects the virus that is responsible for these changes. Both tests are a great
recommendation for women between the ages of twenty-one and sixty-five which is quite
different from what was recommended years ago. Another common cancer in women, breast
cancer, also has a test to help detect it. These types of exams are known as mammograms. It used
to be known that women needed to receive screening once a year after they hit the age of forty.
However, nowadays it has appeared more commonly that women with an HIV infection are
higher at risk (Frazier EL, October 2015). This issue pertains to all women seeking to better and
be more aware about their health. Even those low income individuals who do not have health
insurance, can still receive these tests for low costs and in some cases free through The National
Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (CDC, March 2015).
A big problem today however is the women are not receiving these screenings as
frequently as they should be. Like mentioned earlier it is only recommended after you hit the age

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of forty. This issue is known to be high in severity. As with many other forms of cancer whether
it be cervical or breast, if it is not found early enough and results in stages three and four it
becomes harder to treat and in most cases seeking treatment can no longer take place. Along with
women not getting screened, another major cause is they are not educated on their bodies or on
the possible situations that could arise from receiving these screening tests. If you are not
educated on something, you most likely will never think about it ever in your life until its
already too late. One of the largest causations for women not getting screened however is
controversies that have risen about the issue. Some of these include problems with the false
negatives and positives involved, availability, and the effectiveness of new technologies that are
now being researched.
After an interview with health educator, Melissa Lyons from Albuquerque, New Mexico,
other information regarding these controversies was obtained. A lot of relevant information was
provided by Lyons as she took a very non-biased role on womens screenings being that she
works for a student organized program. According to Lyons, she agreed that there is always
going to be controversy regarding womens health due to the fact women are entitled to their
own rights as citizens. These controversies are based both on research and rationality. Some of
the factors that affect these judgments rationally are location, accessible resources, and
environmental factors (Lyons, 2015). Every woman is encountered to their own beliefs on what
they believe is best for themselves, it is all up to them as to what choice they make in the end.

Methods
Research will take place from various credible websites to compare statistics and draw
conclusions based on the information given about womens health screenings for cervical and

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breast cancer. I plan on looking for websites based accordingly to what type of audience they
intend on speaking to as well as the type of information that will be presented. I intended on
mixing it up a little therefore all my websites included information on international, national, and
local government statistics to answer whether or not the controversies involved with breast/
cervical cancer screenings were relevant. Also what type of affect they displayed. Some of these
websites that will be used to obtain this information and draw these conclusions are Centers of
Disease Control and Prevention, clinical journals online from that of PubMed, and an interview
conducted from a health educator locally therefore information can be provided for that of
Albuquerque in general. I plan on using this information to discuss the importance of these
screenings and provide it for the public as a form of awareness.

Results/ Analysis
After conducting research, the findings proved that the controversies that are involved
with womens health screenings affect the rate of reception. Although sixty percent of the women
that are being recommended are receiving Pap tests, they are only being recommended to get
them every three years and not annually. The number of women that are not getting screened
have increased from 6.5 percent in 2000 to 9.0 percent in 2012. A majority of these women that
were not getting screened did not have health care and were not being recommended. (CDC,
2013) Some breast cancer screening trials that took place in Canada, Europe, and the United
States in 2002 came to the conclusion that all the trials were flaws and there were no results
indicating a reduction in risk. They also did not prove with enough justification that the results
were ineffective (McTiernan, 2002). In order for doctors to recommend screenings, the machines
being used to screen these women need to be reliable in order to show that this is the most

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effective way to prevent and benefit women from these cancers. In most cases, there are
oftentimes false positives involved with these screenings that could actually be harmful toward
the patient just by receiving these exams. One being the reliability of these machines. Another, is
that many of these organizations recommending these screenings are not all on the same page.
Their recommendations do not match up and although preventions occur, frequent screenings
and radiation is not good for the body.

Discussion
On a local level, Albuquerque has over ten womens health clinics that offer services to
the need of womens screenings and exams. I would highly recommend reaching out to one of
these clinics even if women do not necessarily meet the requirements as of whether or not they
should become screened. I believe womens health screenings are a wise choice in most cases
than others but advertisement should be made therefore women are not hidden behind closed
doors on the false positives involved. Also, as for women not living in New Mexico, this
recommendation pertains just as much to you all as well. It would be very wise to locate a
womens health clinic near you. Cancer cannot control our lives forever; it is time we do
something about it to help better protect ourselves as women.
A recommendation that could be used to help shape the local, state, and national health
policy on womens health screenings is to first find new reliable machines that can display
validity. Following this, recommendations need to be made by health providers to help educate
women on what they need to know about their bodies as well as the screenings themselves. The
time frame in which women should be recommended to receive these exams does not necessarily
need to change as long as women are aware of the positive and negative outcomes.

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Bibliography
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Gynecologic Cancers. Centers for Disease and
Prevention. (7 March 2014): n. pag. Web. 19 October 2015.
Frazier EL, Sutton MY, Tie Y, McNaghten AD, Blair JM, and Skarbinski J. Screening for
Cervical Cancer and Sexually Transmitted Diseases Among HIV-Infected Women. Journal of
Womens Health (Larchmt) (8 October 2015): n. pag. Web. 19 October 2015.
Kopans DB. An overview of the breast cancer screening controversy. Journal of National
Cancer Institute Monographs. 22. (1997): 1-3. Web. 19 October 2015.
McTiernan Anne, MD, PhD. Recent Controversies in Mammography Screening for Breast
Cancer. Medscape. (2002): n. pag. Web. 19 October 2015.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More women getting Pap tests as recommended.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (3 January 2013): n. pag. Web. 31 October 2015.
Lyons, Melissa. Interview by Megan Quintana. Cervical/ Breast Cancer Screenings: The Good
and The Bad. Albuquerque, New Mexico. 29 October 2015. Print.