On November 2, 2009, BDF President and General Counsel Nikolas T. Nikas engaged in a debate with the director of Columbia University’s Center for Bioethics, John D. Loike, Ph.D. The debate addressed the issue of law and morality regarding human cloning and destructive human embryo research.

Sponsored by the Columbia Law School chapter of the Federalist Society, Nikas presented rational arguments for the moral status of the human embryo, and for legal protection against using human beings as raw material for science experiments.

In addition to the pragmatic fact that only ethical adult stem cell research has resulted in any human therapies or cures, Nikas brought the power of principled argument to this Ivy League school — advocating for the dignity and equal protection due to each individual human being under the law.

For information about Bioethics Defense Fund lawyers speaking at your law school, medical school or civic group, contact us at info@bdfund.org.

What are the “Lasting Effects of Roe v. Wade”? This was the topic of debate between BDF Senior Counsel Dorinda Bordlee and City University of New York Law Professor Caitlin Borgmann at a February 2011 event sponsored by the Rutgers Law School chapters of the Federalist Society and Law Students for Reproductive Justice. (YouTube: See BDF’s Dorinda Bordlee debate “The Lasting Effects of Roe” at Rutgers Law School.)

Professor Borgmann presented the arguments embraced by the Roe Court based on the autonomy of the woman. In response, Bordlee engaged law students with an argument based on wholistic feminism, a position that integrates the interests of the woman, her child, and the often ignored duties of the father. Several of the self-professed pro-choice law students expressed interest in these arguments that they “had never heard before.”

In summary, Bordlee addressed the overwhelmingly negative lasting effects of Roe on:

• Relationships and Family: Roe has facilitated the sexual exploitation of women, the subsequent abortion coercion of those who do not welcome her child, and has enabled men to shirk their legal and moral duties of child support and fatherly guidance.
• Women’s Health: Roe has wrecked havoc on women’s physical and psychological health as evidenced in a mountain of peer-reviewed studies.
• Law and Politics: Roe has distorted the proper role of the judiciary, deprived citizens of their rights to fully engage the issue of life and death in the democratic process, and has roiled American Presidential elections and judicial appointments with the never-ending subtext of abortion.

Bordlee concluded that the judicial fiat improperly expressed in Roe should be reversed so that the abortion issue can be returned to the democratic process. Citizens in our federalist society would then once again be able to fully engage the issues of the humanity of the unborn child, and the impact of abortion on women and families — via state legislation, ballot initiatives and constitutional amendment efforts.

YouTube: See BDF’s Dorinda Bordlee debate “The Lasting Effects of Roe” at Rutgers Law School.

To schedule a BDF attorney for a speaking event, or to consult with Bioethics Defense Fund on resources to help you argue the pro-life feminist position, contact us at info@bdfund.org or (504) 231-7234.

BDF President Nikolas T. Nikas continues to influence future leaders with debates and presentations at prestigious law schools that rarely hear a rational argument for the protection of human life. Last week, Nik addressed abortion, cloning, and healthcare rights of conscience at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and the University of the Pacific. The week before, Nik had educated physician members of the Catholic Medical Guild and the Mayo Clinic in Minneapolis.

Over the next few months, Nik will address law students at Rutgers in New Jersey, Gonzaga in Washington state, and ASU in Arizona.

This session, Nik will be educating Arizona legislators regarding two bills that BDF lawyers assisted in drafting regarding a ban on the cloning of human embryos for use in science experiments, as well as on exploiting young women who are tempted with thousands of dollars to undergo egg harvesting procedures that require dangerously high doses of hormones.

BDF senior counsel Dorinda Bordlee is assisting several states in pending legislation, including a ban on paid egg harvesting, and a human-animal hybrid ban in Oklahoma, and an ultrasound requirement in Louisiana to name just a few.

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Contact BDF President and General Counsel Nikolas T. Nikas.