BDF Senior Counsel Dorinda Bordlee has coined the phrase “Holistic Feminism” to promote a policy position that integrates the interests of the woman, her child, and the often ignored duties of the father.

It’s been nearly 40 years since the Supreme Court began our nation’s social experiment in legalized abortion. Millions of post-abortive women and their tragic stories teach us that Alice Paul was right when she said that “abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women.”

Who was Alice Paul? She was the original drafter of the Equal Rights Amendment before it was hijacked by those who call themselves “radical feminists.” Alice Paul was one of our lead suffragette foremothers who fought along side Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to establish women’s right to vote.

BDF Senior Counsel Dorinda Bordlee often speaks at law schools on the overwhelmingly negative 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.

Holistic Feminism is a term coined by Dorinda Bordlee to discuss the reality of how abortion exploits women as sexual objects, and robs men of a meaningful life of loving care and respect for his family.

BDF model legislation includes issues that embrace a policy of Holistic Feminism, such as ULTRASOUND BEFORE ABORTION, INFORMED CONSENT FOR HEALTH RISKS, and ABORTION COERCION WARNINGS. For a pro-woman, pro-life perspective, review the following articles by BDF’s Senior Counsel, Dorinda C. Bordlee:

• Holistic Feminism: Law School Debate
• What Women Want: John Paul the Feminist
• Chris Rock’s Abortion Shtick hits on a Profound Truth
• An Authentic Concept of Woman will Build a Culture of Life
• Federalism: Even liberals agree that Roe “ruled far too broadly”

Abortion Health Risks: Abortion Hurts Women Fact Sheet

Abortion Impacts Men: A Man’s View: Abortion and Loss

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

Contact Dorinda Bordlee for legislative consultation, media interviews or speaking events.

Supreme Court Upholds Federal Ban on Partial Birth Abortion

April 18, 2007: Victory for women and children! The U.S. Supreme Court issues a 5-4 decision upholding the ban that draws a bright line between abortion and infanticide.

Learn the Legal and Medical Facts about Partial Birth Abortion and read our brief on behalf of medical researchers.

BDF Puts Abortion Health Risks for Minors in Front of U.S. Supreme Court

August 8, 2005. Representing a lead researcher and the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, the Bioethics Defense Fund files a friend-of-the-court brief in a parental notice case that was heard on November 30, 2005. Read about the Victory!

If you’ve experienced the trauma of abortion, you need to protect your future health through proper screening … for the sake of yourself and those who love you.

If you’re considering abortion, you need to know the health risks that you face. . .for the sake of yourself and those who love you.

Women deserve to know. Women need to know.

LONG-TERM HEALTH EFFECTS AFTER ABORTION:
What Every Woman Needs to Know

Based on a 2003 peer-reviewed abstract of abortion-related health studies over the 30 years of legalized abortion.

BREAST CANCER

It is undisputed that completing a full-term pregnancy provides protection against breast cancer. This is called the “protective effect.” This protection is lost when a woman has an abortion.This loss of protective effect can double a woman’s lifetime risk of breast cancer.Abortion, all by itself, slightly increases breast cancer risk. This is called the “independent effect.” A meta-analysis shows an increased independent risk of 30%.

Prevention Steps

Perform a monthly breast self exam
Obtain a yearly breast exam from a health care provider
Discuss a schedule for mammogram or other imaging studies with your health care provider

DEPRESSION & SELF HARM

Increased depression, even years after abortion, for some women
Increased self harm, suicide attempts, and suicide (over twice as likely for women who have an abortion)

Prevention Steps

Talk to your health care provider about how you feel
Talk to a therapist or someone you trust
If you feel like hurting yourself, call your local suicide prevention hotline

NEXT PREGNANCY

Increased risk of pre-term birth (babies born prematurely have more infections, lung disease, and long-term developmental problems such as cerebral palsy)
Increased risk of placenta previa (where the placenta blocks the cervix, which requires a c-section for delivery)

Prevention Steps

Obtain prenatal care early in the next pregnancy
Get an ultrasound in the middle of your pregnancy
Tell your health care provider you are at higher risk of pre-term delivery

A 2003 comprehensive women’s health study shows:

Abortion increases the risk of:

• breast cancer
• depression & suicide
• pre-term birth & placenta previa

Abortion does not increase the risk of:

• infertility
• miscarriage
• tubal or ectopic pregnancy

Your health care provider may not know this new information. You can reduce your risk by educating yourself and your physician on abortion health risks.

This information is based upon “Long-Term Physical & Psychological Health Consequences of Induced Abortion: Review of the Evidence,” by J.M. Thorp, Jr., MD, K.E. Hartmann, MD, PhD, and E.M. Shadigian, MD. OB/GYN Survey 58(1): 67-79, 2003.

The research study reviewed over 60 international studies and included more than one million women.

The study’s authors are:

John M. Thorp, Jr., M.D., Mcallister Distinguished Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, and Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Katherine E. Hartmann, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, and Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Elizabeth Shadigian, M.D., Associate Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

August 8, 2005. Representing a lead researcher and the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, the Bioethics Defense Fund files a friend-of-the-court brief in a parental notice case that was heard on November 30, 2005. Read about the Victory!

Learn about BDF’s Model Legislation “Ultasound Before Abortion Act”

Physical

• Increased risk of premature birth[1]
• Increased risk of future miscarriages[2]
• Increased risk of breast cancer[3] [4], [5], [17]
• Possible factor in autoimmune diseases[6]
• Increased Risk of Pregnancy-Associated Death[7]

• Increased risk of Depression [8], [9]
• Increased risk of anxiety disorders [10]
• Psychiatric admissions are more common among low-income women who have had an abortion [11], [12]

• More prone to abuse future children [13]
• Increased risk of substance abuse [14], [15], [16]