Women who fought for US abortion rights in the 70s call for mass global protests
Veteran activists say the overthrow of Roe v Wade would equate to murder, and should send warning signals around the world.
May 8, 2022
Veteran activists say the overthrow of Roe v Wade would equate to murder, and should send warning signals around the world.
Abortion-rights activists expect more than a quarter of a million women to come to New York seeking abortions if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
The New York Times featured a story on Merle Hoffman and her lifelong dedication as an abortion rights leader and activist.
It was 1971, 50 years ago, one half of a century, when I saw my first patient in a small medical center in Queens, NY.
Nearly a half century ago, women with unwanted pregnancies would cross state lines seeking abortions that were legal in New York but banned in many other states across the country. Now new restrictions on abortion access are forcing women in several states to take similar measures and travel far from home to end pregnancies, health-care providers and supporters said. “We’ve had patients from Texas, from Georgia. We’ve had a patient from Alabama,” said Merle Hoffman, who runs Choices Women’s Medical Center, which provides abortions, in New York City.
When some members of the New York City Council heard about all the abortion restrictions being passed by other states, they wanted to do something. One Councilmember, Carlina Rivera, told the NY Times that many in NY felt “helpless.”
The Guardian, a British daily newspaper with international circulation and a U.S. edition, featured Choices’ Out-of-Town Program in its July 4 article about women traveling across state lines for abortions in New York.
As reported by the Global Fund for Women, “The Trump administration is exporting these anti-choice measures with the global gag rule. The global gag rule prohibits organizations from receiving funding from the U.S. government if they provide services, referrals, and advocacy related to abortion internationally – even with non-U.S. government financing.
The act of abortion positions women at their most powerful, and that is why it is so strongly opposed by many in society. Historically viewed and conditioned to be passive, dependent creatures, and victims of biological circumstance, women assume the power over life and death with the choice of abortion—it is THEY who decide when and whether to bring new life into the world.
Statistics often put people to sleep. But any one of the new laws should be enough to cause waking nightmares for everyone concerned about women’s
March 8, 1908: Women demanded dignity and respect.
March 2019: So where are we today?
On March 8, 1908, many thousands of women garment workers poured out of New York City’s firetrap factories and demanded decent working and living conditions. Their bold action inspired March 8 to be celebrated all over the world. Some of the specifics of women’s lives may have changed since then, but their cry to be treated like human beings with dignity and respect, a cry for justice and freedom, is just as relevant and just as necessary today as then.
Causette Magazine features an article on abortion, Choices Women’s Medical Center, Merle Hoffman and the state of the abortion battle in the United States.
Choices Women’s Medical Center is committed to meeting the needs of our patients, regardless of age, gender identity, nationality, or culture, in a safe, comfortable environment that is completely confidential.
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