Early Influences
Merle Hoffman was born in Philadelphia and raised in New York City. Initially intent on becoming a concert pianist, she attended the LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts and graduated from Chatham Square Music School (1964). After living and studying music in Paris, Hoffman returned to the states and graduated from Queens College, Phi Beta Kappa and magna Cum laude (1972). She attended the Social Psychology Doctoral Program at the City University of New York Graduate Center from 1972-195.
Hoffman was first exposed to “real activism” at Queens College in the late 60s and early 70s. There she attended a reading by the writer Anaïs Nin and later a lecture by Florynce Kennedy, who spoke about lesbianism and abortion, and delivered the now- famous slogan “If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.” Hoffman's first exposure to abortion was at the age of ten, when she overheard her parents discussing a Philadelphia physician whose patient had died during an illegal procedure. To cover for himself, he cut her up in pieces and put her remains down the drain.
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