[3][4] As a young woman, she had an illegal abortion in England, and her experience "fueled her campaign to improve women's reproductive choices.
[3] After a brief stint at a Manhattan advertising agency, Dunlop went to work at the Ford Foundation (1960-1967) as an administrative assistant to the Director of Public Affairs, Paul Ylvisaker, at a time when the Public Affairs Programs would soon serve as the model for President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society/War on Poverty programs.
[3] Dunlop helped raise money for the New York Public Library and was an advisor to John D. Rockefeller III on population.
[6] During her interview with Rockefeller for the job as a population adviser, Dunlop told him the story of her abortion and later she said, "He listened with great attentiveness.
[7] Part of her motivation in leaving a good job and taking on the task of running the IWHC was that she was "angry at the rise of the anti-abortion movement in the United States" which she considered an organizing tool for a conservative political agenda.