Merle Hoffman weighs in on abortion rights movement since Roe's overturning

Abortion rights leader and provider Merle Hoffman’s book just reached shelves. I had written about it before, but since so much had happened between then and now, I spoke again to her about the direction of the movement since the recent success in Ohio. 

Hoffman said that we are fighting a multi-faceted, multi-theater war for abortion access. We’ve won some battles, but the main issue hasn’t been addressed. Hoffman thinks that lawmakers must codify abortion rights so that it is available nationwide without restrictions. 

“The fact that this idea of a state-by-state struggle has been normalized is very concerning,” Hoffman said. 

Hoffman, the CEO of Choices Women’s Medical Center, an abortion provider in Queens, recently released a book, Choices: A Post-Roe Abortion Rights Manifesto. Hoffman previously had written a compelling memoir, Intimate Wars: The Life and Times of the Woman Who Brought Abortion from the Back Alley to the Board Room. She’s been in the movement for decades and has many stories from her involvement. 

It’s not enough that abortion is safe in New York. Twenty-two million women in the country are without access to safe and legal abortion. 

Hoffman said the antiabortion movement is patient. It knows it will win some battles and lose others. 

“They understand the long game, just as they understood the long game that led to the demolition of Roe,” Hoffman said. “And they'll wait because their timeline is in more of a Biblical sense if you will. So that's, that's my concern.” 

Hoffman was pleased that Ohio passed a ballot initiative and that other efforts elsewhere exist to do the same thing. But there is still a vast swath of the United States. 

“There's still half the country that won't pass it,” Hoffman said. “As long as one woman has to live in that situation, it's not good.” 

Many people have pointed out that the abortion rights movement is the most powerful one politically in the country at the moment. Hoffman thinks that electoral power isn’t the only one to be concerned with. Throughout history, there has often been a disconnect between voting for pro-choice candidates and having them deliver while in office. That was the case with repealing the Hyde Amendment’s ban on taxpayer money going to abortions, It never happened despite having multiple Democratic administrations. 

Hoffman sees a constant battle ahead, as has been the case for the last 50 years. Whether the results change depends on whether women get complacent. That’s what Hoffman thinks caused the downfall of Roe v. Wade. 

“This is not something you come out and you put a pink pussy hat on your head for once a year,” Hoffman said. “The commitment and the necessity of fighting is deeper than that. Really deeper than that.”