Merle Hoffman (born March 6, 1946) is an American journalist and activist.
Shortly after
New York State
New York, officially the State of New York, is a U.S. state, state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the List of U.S. ...
legalized
abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...
in 1970, three years before the
Supreme Court's ''
Roe v. Wade
''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and ...
'' decision legalized abortion nationally, Hoffman helped establish one of the country's first ambulatory abortion centers, Flushing Women's Medical Center in 1971. It was the forerunner of Choices Women's Medical Center which Hoffman founded and serves as president and CEO. Choices is a full-service healthcare provider, offering gynecological services, pre-natal care, family care, transgender health care,
telemedicine, mental health and other services.
Hoffman co-founded the
National Abortion Federation The National Abortion Federation (NAF) is the professional association of abortion providers. NAF members include private and non-profit clinics, Planned Parenthood affiliates, women's health centers, physicians' offices, and hospitals who together ...
in 1976, the first professional organization of abortion providers in the U.S., and was its first president. She also founded the New York Pro-Choice Coalition in 1985. Hoffman is the publisher of
''On the Issues'' magazine, which began as a print publication in 1983 and then became an online publication in 2008. She was awarded the Front Page Award for Political Commentary in 2010 from the
Newswoman's Club of New York.
Early life
Hoffman was born in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
and raised in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
. Initially intent on becoming a concert pianist, she attended the
High School of Music and Art
The High School of Music & Art, informally known as "Music & Art" (or "M&A"), was a public specialized high school located at 443-465 West 135th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York, from 1936 until 1984. In 1961, Music & Art and the H ...
in New York City and graduated from
Chatham Square Music School
Mannes School of Music is a music conservatory in The New School, a private research university in New York City. In the fall of 2015, Mannes moved from its previous location on Manhattan's Upper West Side to join the rest of the New School ca ...
. After living and studying music in Paris, Hoffman returned to the United States and graduated from
Queens College
Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...
,
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
and
magna cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...
in 1972. She attended the Social Psychology Doctoral Program at the
City University of New York Graduate Center
The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and post-graduate university in New York City. Serving as the principal doctorate-granting institution of the C ...
from 1972 to 1975.
Early influences
In her 2012 memoir, ''Intimate Wars: The Life and Times of the Woman Who Brought Abortion from the Back Alley to the Boardroom'', Hoffman recounts how she was exposed to feminist activism at
Queens College
Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...
in the late '60s and early '70s. She attended a reading by the writer
Anaïs Nin
Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell (February 11, 1903 – January 14, 1977; , ) was a French-born American diarist, essayist, novelist, and writer of short stories and erotica. Born to Cuban parents in France, Nin was the ...
and later a lecture by
Florynce Kennedy
Florynce Rae Kennedy (February 11, 1916 – December 21, 2000) was an American lawyer, radical feminist, civil rights advocate, lecturer and activist.
Early life
Kennedy was born in Kansas City, Missouri, to an African-American family. Her fat ...
, "who spoke about lesbianism and abortion, giving the class one of her famous lines: 'If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.'" In her memoir, Hoffman recalls that her first exposure to abortion had been when she was about ten: "I overheard my parents' discussion of a Philadelphia physician whose patient had died while he was performing an illegal procedure. To cover for himself, he cut her up in pieces and put her remains down the drain."
Career
Healthcare "firsts" and innovations
Hoffman co-founded and helped run Flushing Women's Medical Center (forerunner of Choices Women's Medical Center) in the borough of Queens in NYC in the spring of 1971, two years before Roe v. Wade legalized abortion nationwide. Hoffman considered many standard medical practices of the day sexist, invasive, and paternalistic. In response, she developed many of the patient-centered tenets and practices that have since become standards of female and feminist healthcare and implemented them at Flushing Women's. Hoffman's theory of "Patient Power" led to such now-standard practices as having another staff member in the room with the doctor and patient at all times and developing the concept of informed consent; having other women counselors rather than doctors provide emotional support and answer patients' questions during abortions; and using patients' abortion-based clinic visits as an opportunity to provide sexual health education as well as counseling on birth control options. Hoffman was also among the first to urge women to question their doctor about everything from their training and background to the reason for prescribing certain medications. Her work was noted by Francis X. Clines in The New York Times as "making women feel powerful."
In November, 1974, Hoffman was the initiator and moderator for New York City's first Women's Health Forum, with speakers including
Barbara Ehrenreich
Barbara Ehrenreich (, ; ; August 26, 1941 – September 1, 2022) was an American author and political activist. During the 1980s and early 1990s, she was a prominent figure in the Democratic Socialists of America. She was a widely read and awar ...
and Congresswoman
Bella Abzug
Bella Savitzky Abzug (July 24, 1920 – March 31, 1998), nicknamed "Battling Bella", was an American lawyer, politician, social activist, and a leader in the women's movement. In 1971, Abzug joined other leading feminists such as Gloria Stein ...
. In 1975, Hoffman helped develop and introduce a program to diagnosis women with breast cancer in an outpatient center. The program, known as STOP (Second Treatment Option Program), was pathbreaking; prior to its inception women were not consulted as to their diagnosis or treatment options. Previously, doctors had simply removed the breast of any woman whose biopsy came back positive while she was still anesthetized and before she had the opportunity to learn about her options or make decisions.
When Hoffman learned about the lack of birth control options available to women in Russia, she organized and led a trip of physicians and counselors from Choices on a well-publicized educational exchange there. In 1974 she began working with Russian hospitals and doctors to develop CHOICES East, the first feminist outpatient medical center in Russia, and organized Russian feminists to deliver an open letter to
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...
on the state of women's health care.
Writing, publishing and media
In 1982, Hoffman produced, directed, and wrote the documentary film ''Abortion: A Different Light'', and in 1986 she produced and hosted the first feminist TV show, ''MH: On the Issues'', a syndicated 30-minute cable TV show. Her first guest was then-Congresswoman Bella Abzug. Others included
Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan ( February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006) was an American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book ''The Feminine Mystique'' is often credited with sparking the se ...
and
Phyllis Chesler
Phyllis Chesler (born October 1, 1940) is an American writer, psychotherapist, and professor emerita of psychology and women's studies at the College of Staten Island (CUNY). She is a renowned second-wave feminist psychologist and the author o ...
. A documentary film, ''25 Years of Choices: Feminism from the Ground Up'' (1986), was produced to honor her and her work.
Hoffman's writing has appeared in numerous publications and journals including the ''
American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
The ''American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology'' (AJOG) is a peer reviewed journal of obstetrics and gynecology. It is popularly called the "Gray Journal". Since 1920, AJOG has continued the American Journal of Obstetrics and Diseases of Wom ...
'' and the ''Journal of the
American Medical Women's Association
The American Medical Women's Association (AMWA) is a professional advocacy and educational organization of women physicians and medical students. Founded in 1915 by Bertha Van Hoosen, the AMWA works to advance women in medicine and to serve as a v ...
''. Hoffman also published two studies with
Adelphi University
Adelphi University is a private university in Garden City, New York. Adelphi also has centers in Manhattan, Hudson Valley, and Suffolk County. There is also a virtual, online campus for remote students. It is the oldest institution of higher edu ...
in the 80s that documented how poverty leads many women to choose abortions and showed that nearly half the women seeking abortion at CHOICES would pursue one illegally if ''Roe v. Wade'' were repealed. The study, "Abortionomics: When Choice is a Necessity – The Impact of Recession on Abortion," was updated in 2011, and the results were presented at the
National Press Club
Organizations
A press club is an organization for journalists and others professionally engaged in the production and dissemination of news. A press club whose membership is defined by the press of a given country may be known as a National Pres ...
in Washington, D.C., on January 19, 2012.
Hoffman began a newsletter for Choices in 1982 which developed into ''
On the Issues: The Progressive Women's Quarterly'', an acclaimed national magazine with an international following, featuring interviews by Hoffman with notable activists and thinkers, including
Andrea Dworkin
Andrea Rita Dworkin (September 26, 1946 – April 9, 2005) was an American radical feminist writer and activist best known for her analysis of pornography. Her feminist writings, beginning in 1974, span 30 years. They are found in a dozen solo ...
, Congressman
John Lewis
John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashvill ...
,
Kate Millett
Katherine Murray Millett (September 14, 1934 – September 6, 2017) was an American feminist writer, educator, artist, and activist. She attended Oxford University and was the first American woman to be awarded a degree with first-class honors ...
, and
Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel (, born Eliezer Wiesel ''Eliezer Vizel''; September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in Fr ...
. In 2008, On the Issues became an online magazine, extending its reach even further. For both print and online editions, Hoffman wrote editorials on subjects ranging from her visit to
San Francisco General Hospital's AIDS Unit in 1985 to a visit to a Rape Crisis Center in South Africa, and what is feels like to be an abortion provider in a time of attacks on clinics and murders of doctors.
In 1990, she published an editorial in the ''
Amsterdam News
The ''Amsterdam News'' (also known as ''New York Amsterdam News'') is a weekly Black-owned newspaper serving New York City. It is one of the oldest newspapers geared toward African Americans in the United States and has published columns by ...
'' in response to the
Central Park jogger rape case.
Hoffman's memoir, ''Intimate Wars: The Life and Times of the Woman Who Brought Abortion from the Back Alley to the Boardroom'', was published in 2012 by
Feminist Press
The Feminist Press (officially The Feminist Press at CUNY) is an American independent nonprofit literary publisher that promotes freedom of expression and social justice. It publishes writing by people who share an activist spirit and a belief in ...
. ''
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'' opined that "she eloquently chronicles more than three decades of struggles to keep abortion legal. Readers will learn much about her drive to recast 'reproductive freedom as a positive moral value.'"
Kirkus Reviews called it "An inspiring story of a woman who participated in 'one of the greatest revolutions in history'—and is still at the forefront of the struggle."
Political activism
Hoffman was one of the first activists to criticize
Operation Rescue, an organization dedicated to ending access to abortion by blockading clinics. When Operation Rescue announced it would shut down abortion services in New York City for a week in the spring of 1988, the New York Pro-Choice Coalition, founded by Hoffman, responded by rebranding those days "Reproductive Freedom Week," organizing a counter protest that drew 1,300 activists and supporters, and dispatching supporters to ensure that every clinic or doctor's offices Operation Rescue targeted remained open.
During the 1989 New York City Mayoral Race, shortly after the
U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point ...
ruled in Webster that states could limit abortion access, Hoffman and the New York Pro-Choice Coalition held a press conference to rate the candidates on this question.
In 1989 Hoffman also publicly challenged New York City's
Cardinal John O'Connor's support of Operation Rescue, which she deemed "violent to women" by organizing the first pro-choice civil disobedience action outside
St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. Several hundred participated, and nine pro-choice protestors were arrested.
In January 2022 she helped to found
Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights
Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights is a U.S. based abortion rights coalition founded by Merle Hoffman, Lori Sokol, Sunsara Taylor and other initiators in January, 2022, aimed at preventing the U.S. Supreme Court from overturning ''Roe V. Wade'' and "de ...
, a reproductive rights coalition based in New York City.
Recognition and awards
Hoffman received the "Bella" Award from the
Bella Abzug
Bella Savitzky Abzug (July 24, 1920 – March 31, 1998), nicknamed "Battling Bella", was an American lawyer, politician, social activist, and a leader in the women's movement. In 1971, Abzug joined other leading feminists such as Gloria Stein ...
Leadership Institute, founded by Liz Abzug, daughter of the late Congresswoman, Bella Abzug, in 2015.
The Newswomen's Club of New York awarded Hoffman the Front Page Award for her article "Selecting the Same Sex," published in On The Issues. The essay about the complex issues of
sex selection
Sex selection is the attempt to control the sex of the offspring to achieve a desired sex. It can be accomplished in several ways, both pre- and post-implantation of an embryo, as well as at childbirth. It has been marketed under the title family ...
and
abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...
appeared in the Summer 2009 edition. Hoffman's essay did "a brilliant job with a controversial subject," said syndicated columnist
Lenore Skenazy
Lenore Skenazy () is president oLet Grow a non-profit promoting childhood independence and resilience, and founder of the Free-Range Kids movement. She is also a speaker, blogger, syndicated columnist, author, and reality show host. A mother wh ...
, who presented the Opinion Writing Award to her at a dinner and ceremony in New York on Nov. 4, 2010.
The 1995 Media Award from Community Action NW was given to On the Issues for "Exceptional Merit" for the article, "Let's Get Tough on Rape," A Discussion with Prosecutors Liz Holtzman and Alice Vachss by Hoffman.
Hoffman was honored for her work by New York City Mayor
Ed Koch
Edward Irving Koch ( ; December 12, 1924February 1, 2013) was an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, film critic, and television personality. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and was mayo ...
and the Mayor's Volunteer Action Center in appreciation of "dedicated volunteer service" and the Department of Corrections of New York City (July 10, 1984); Friends of Animals/Eco-Visions Conference (1994).
Archives and legacy
Hoffman's Archive Collection, which features the ''On the Issues'' back catalog, CHOICES documents, and thousands of pages on the Reproductive Rights movement is in the Merle Hoffman Papers Collection, 1994 to 2001, at Duke University.
In 2011, Hoffman endowed a director's position for sustained leadership of the
Duke University Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture.
Personal life
In 2005, Hoffman adopted a three-year-old girl from Siberia whom she named Sasha.
Hoffman is Jewish.
Feminism Is As Feminism Does
On The Issues Magazine
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffman, Merle
American women's rights activists
American women writers
American publishers (people)
American health activists
Jewish American writers
Living people
1946 births
American women chief executives
American health care chief executives
Queens College, City University of New York alumni
Graduate Center, CUNY alumni
Women's health movement
21st-century American Jews
21st-century American women