Merle Hoffman

Merle Hoffman (born March 6, 1946) is an American journalist, activist, and healthcare pioneer.

Described by Blanche Wiesen Cook as someone who “never turned away from the harshest battles or denied the most painful truths,” Hoffman has played a key role in defining and defending women’s human and reproductive rights for over four decades. In 1971, two years prior to the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationally (Roe v. Wade), Hoffman helped to found one of America's first ambulatory abortion centers — the Flushing Women's Medical Center (since renamed “Choices”). She is also the co-founder of the National Abortion Federation (1976) and founder of the New York Pro-Choice Coalition (1985). In addition to continuing to serve as the CEO of Choices, now one of the nation's largest women’s medical facilities, Hoffman is the publisher of On the Issues magazine, an online feminist magazine.