It’s been a crazy ride for the Pro-Choice movement over the last few months. There have really been two different battles going parallel to each other when it all really comes down to the same question: Can we trust women to make the right choice for their own bodies? While we’re at it, can we [...]
Tag Archives: merle hoffman
Intimate Wars: Sex is Intimate. So is Pregnancy.
War can be an intimate experience, often in a deeply personal way, even though it’s a shared collective event. People experience the physical effect of war through their bodies and perceive their emotional experience in their minds. My grandmother lived through an occupation, and her strongest memories were of being hungry. Of her brother being [...]
Intimate Wars: A Faithful Feminist
I am a believer. If I had to name my religion, it would be “Judaism-Islam.” As the believers of both religions believe in One God, my heart stays indivisible. It is a paradox. I cannot choose between these two religions, the two principals of my family (in which there are also devout but very tolerant [...]
Intimate Wars: The First – And Next – Time I Stood Up For Abortion Rights
The first time I stood up for abortion rights was back in 1994 in the middle of a freezing cold North Dakota winter. As I stood in the sub-freezing wind outside that clinic, being screamed at by a hysterical mob of religious zealots, I was terrified. I had never even been out of town without [...]
Intimate Wars: Discussing Abortion During Polite Dinner Conversation
It had been a lovely wedding, and now the reception was packed. We sat down to dinner; at my table was my husband and three of our friends, along with three of the groom’s friends from grad school. Introductions were made and small talk ensued, and as our salad courses were cleared away one of [...]
Intimate Wars Blog Series: My Abortion Story
It’s been over 40 years since I founded Choices Women’s Medical Center, one of the first and currently the largest and most comprehensive women’s health care centers in the country. Two years before the Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade, I opened the doors of Choices to provide women with services they desperately needed. [...]
What’s So Intimate About War, Anyway? (Book Giveaway Contest Announcement!)
Two weeks ago, I attended a presentation by Gary Johnson, the former Governor of New Mexico and a candidate for the Republican nomination for President. This lecture was part of a series I had to attend for my graduate school program in Global Security Studies, and the speech and Q&A afterwards focused on issues like [...]
Selecting The Same Sex
Posted with permission from On The Issues Magazine There is one place where the definition of gender remains binary – in the womb. When it comes to sonograms, amniocentesis and standard pre-natal testing, there are no nuances. Here, the pronouncement, “It’s a girl,” can translate into fierce and instant parental rejection. The fact is that [...]
Dr. George Tiller: A Life Lived on the Line
George Tiller was a friend, comrade and associate of mine for over a quarter of a century. I would share time and ideas with him at conferences, refer patients for his services and exchange holiday gifts with his staff. He, like so many abortion providers, was a person of courage, integrity and commitment to women’s [...]