#merle hoffman

[stoppatriarchy]

“CONFRONTING THE ABORTION RIGHTS EMERGENCY -- DEFEATING THE WAR ON WOMEN”

Listen to one-hour radio special broadcast Dec 29, 2015 on WBAI 99.5 radio:

Host & Producer: Sunsara Taylor, writer for Revolution newspaper and initiator of StopPatriarchy.org

Including the voices of:  Merle Hoffman, Founder and CEO of Choices Women’s Medical Center, abortion provider, author and activist for over 40 years

David Cohen, author of the new book Living in the Crosshairs: The Untold Stories of Anti-Abortion Terrorism

Activists from StopPatriarchy.org and Revolution Clubs around the country

LISTEN HERE

(Program begins at 1:30)

[thefeministpress]

There is a reason that women have been having abortions, legal or not, for all of history. The act of choosing whether or not to have a child is often an act of love, and always an act of survival. 'Choice' is sometimes not a choice at all. It is an outcome determined by the economic, physical, sociological, and political factors that surround women and move them toward the only action that allows them to survive at that point in their lives. Survival can sometimes be a woman's act of staying alive, but it can also be her act of refusing to put what will become an impossible burden on her shoulders.

Merle Hoffman, Intimate Wars: The Life and Times of the Woman Who Brought Abortion from the Back Alley to the Boardroom

[thefeministpress]

Anybody in New York?

If ya are, Feminist Press author Merle Hoffman is part of a panel this Monday, November 18 discussing reproductive health at sea. Basically, abortion laws don't apply in international waters, so everything is dramatically different. If you're free, and if you're a feminist, you should definitely check this out.

[stoppatriarchy]

Statement from Merle Hoffman, Founder/President of Choices Women's Medical Center, Jamaica, NY: to the August 17, 2013 rally in Jackson, Mississippi

Although I am not able to be with you in person today in Jackson, my heart is here with all of you who persevere in your services to women, providing abortion in the face of great challenges, hardships and threats to your very lives.

I stand with the Jackson Women's Health Organization, with Diana Derzis and all the doctors, clinic staff and escorts.

I stand with the women of Mississippi who must travel long distances to realize a very basic human and civil right, the right to decide when or if to give birth -- and with the women in so many states who should not have to go through such difficulties.

And I stand with the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride who courageously call for a pro-choice counteroffensive to the attacks on abortion rights, including upholding and promoting the call for "Abortion On Demand and Without Apology."

Freedom and liberty must have NO boundaries.  The Power of the State must stop at our skin.  We cannot rest -- and we will not stop -- until reproductive justice is a reality for every woman and girl in this country.

[tasseomancyandtiaras-blog]

The “big tent” of feminism is not about gender. It is not about age. It is about the vision of social justice that feminism represents. Today, as has always been true, there are many women who do not look like feminists (or what someone thinks a feminist looks like) but who do embody feminist values. I picture all the women and young girls fighting for justice in whatever way they are able, in their college classrooms and in their workplaces; at their computers and iPads or out in the world. I embrace them. But I will always challenge their thinking, because they are not what they wear, who they fuck or what they buy. They are what they think, and what they do about what they think.

Merle Hoffman

[mediocrenomore]

So what is a feminist? The litmus test has always been quite simple: Gloria Steinem said that, "A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men." At its root feminism calls for the understanding, validation, and acceptance of women as human, having within them what has historically and scientifically been seen as the thing that separates us from the rest of the animals: our ability to reason. Reason is defined as the mental powers concerned with forming conclusions, judgments, or inferences... ...The "big tent" of feminism is not about gender. It is not about age. It is about the vision of social justice that feminism represents. Today, as has always been true, there are many women who do not look like feminists (or what someone thinks a feminist looks like) but who do embody feminist values. I picture all the women and young girls fighting for justice in whatever way they are able, in their college classrooms and in their workplaces; at their computers and iPads or out in the world. I embrace them. But I will always challenge their thinking, because they are not what they wear, who they fuck or what they buy. They are what they think, and what they do about what they think.

Merle Hoffman

[beejo]

Last week in a room of a bookstore on East 86th Street, two of the staunchest defenders of the right to choose came together to remind the audience that right has never been in greater danger now that most of the GOP candidates for the presidential nomination have signed the Pro Life "Presidential Leadership Pledge.  It was the Supreme Court case “Baird vs. Eisenstadt” that legalized birth control for every American in 1972. Justice William Brennan wrote “If the right to privacy means anything, it is the right of the individual, married or single, to be free from unwarranted governmental intrusion into matters so fundamentally affecting a person as the decision to bear or beget a child.” Baird and Hoffman would like to see that ideal stay possible today."

I was there, and what an amazing couple people they are..

[beejo]

Dear sir, I am a young feminist. Thank you.

Tonight I had the honor of going to a reading, conversation, and book signing with the amazing Merle Hoffman. It was obviously wrapped up with a Q&A. There didn't seem to be any conflict on the surface. Looking around there were no picketers who are so often seen in front of Merle's clinic, no stern faces who weren't there to congratulate Merle. There may not have been any picketting going on in the back line, but looking around there was another factor that seemed to stick out to me almost as boldly as these anti-choice people would have. We were two groups, the older crowd and the young crowd (there weren't many of us either..). Although we are all fighting for the same movement and the same reproductive rights, it is well known that there is a disconnect and a schism between the groups. They think that we don't realize what they have gone through, and we think they are stuck in a place we would rather not be.

I felt even more concrete in this belief after the older gentleman in front of me asked a question along the lines of if Merle believed that today's feminists would continue the fight or if we are going to see a dying out of the movement because "we just dont know the struggle that went into it" that we "take it for granted". I don't remember his exact words, because I was outraged. As I sat there, I couldn't do anything but shake my head no. Trying to formulate articulate sentences in order to raise my hand and tell this man, I do know! and I am going to continue the fight and bring my sisters and brothers along with me! The sentences didn't come, the emotions yes they came (I need to work on this!). Thank goodness for Jennifer, she quickly replied that he was making a generalization and that today's feminists do understand and don't take it for granted. Assuring the man that she was confident the movement wasn't going to die out, he backed down. Anyway... the point of this blog post is that I am no longer going to break out in tears of passion (a common thing in my life today), but I am going to say here what I want this man to hear. and hopefully next time you are faced with this... you can say these things.

Dear Sir, 

Thank you for your commitment to the same cause that I am working towards, Reproductive Justice. As we both know, hopefully, reproductive justice is a new terminology for a fight that has been going on for many years before my time. A fight that has given me the privileged to receive abortion when I need it and given many women the choice in what to do with their bodies. We also both know that reproductive justice is a new terminology that occurred from a switch in the movement, a switch to include more women and not alienate anyone from the movement. This is a constant battle, and I sir, I will carry it on. I will carry it on in order to continue to lower the barriers of access, in order to educate those around me, and in order to empower all women. 

Thank you sir, for your commitment to the same cause that I am fighting for. I know that there was a time when we young women became complacent. You are completely correct in saying that we were born into a world that doesn't understand completely what the fight was that you and many others had to go through. But sir, you are not correct in saying that I take that for granted. I understand that during this time when young feminists became complacent, we began to lose ground. They became comfortable with where the movement was in the fight, and in doing that the other side continued to fight against it and slowly push it back. I realize sir, that we need to fight back. It's not just reproductive justice that has suffered from this, everything from abortion access to equal pay has seemed to suffer at the hands of this complacency. 

Sir, I am a young feminist, and I understand this. I am TODAY's generation. Please have faith in us, please tell us your stories so that we can better understand. Let's work together, why not? We do not take this for granted, we do not want to see this movement lose any ground. We are passionate about all the same things as you are, and maybe even more. We are forever grateful to your generation of moving our country to where it is today, and I promise to continue the fight. Sir, I may not understand where you have been, but I understand where we are going and where we live today. That brings a whole new set of issues to the table that you will never understand, but I am willing to share my stories with you too.

Thank you sir, I am a young feminist. I am a young feminist activist. I wouldn't have the privilege of doing this activism if it wasn't for you fighting for my right to make my own decisions.

- Bethany Jolene

Ladies and gentlemen... Stand up with me, and lets realize what has been done for us, continue to push, and educate yourself! Knowing the history of how we got to where we are in today's social justice war.. is half the battle. The other battle is getting up and doing something about it.