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Choices: A Post-Roe Abortion Rights Manifesto
"Merle Hoffman has always known that in a democracy, we each have decision-making power over the fate of our own bodies. She is a national hero for us all.” —Gloria Steinem
In the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe V. Wade and a country divided, a pioneer in the pro-choice movement and women’s healthcare offers an unapologetic and authoritative take on abortion and women's right to choose.
Merle Hoffman has been at the forefront of the reproductive freedom movement since the 1970s. Three years before the Supreme Court legalized abortion through Roe v. Wade , she helped to establish one of the United States’ first abortion centers in Flushing, Queens, and later went on to found Choices, one of the nation’s largest and most comprehensive women’s medical facilities. For the last five decades, Hoffman has been a steadfast warrior and fierce advocate for every woman’s right to choose when and whether or not to be a mother.
Now, amidst the aftermath of the Dobbs Decision, Hoffman has carefully compiled her decades of analysis, research, and experience into a tour de force manifesto that sheds light on the catastrophic repercussions of overturning Roe, and what we must do moving forward to ensure the safety and legality of abortion nationally.
In Choices , Hoffman expresses her views on where we are and what lies ahead. She covers topics ranging revamping the healthcare system to support women’s rights; combatting rising authoritarianism; the weaponization of religion; fighting the antis; practicing courage; sabotage from within the movement; and activating the next generation in the fight for reproductive justice.
In the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe V. Wade and a country divided, a pioneer in the pro-choice movement and women’s healthcare offers an unapologetic and authoritative take on abortion and women's right to choose.
Merle Hoffman has been at the forefront of the reproductive freedom movement since the 1970s. Three years before the Supreme Court legalized abortion through Roe v. Wade , she helped to establish one of the United States’ first abortion centers in Flushing, Queens, and later went on to found Choices, one of the nation’s largest and most comprehensive women’s medical facilities. For the last five decades, Hoffman has been a steadfast warrior and fierce advocate for every woman’s right to choose when and whether or not to be a mother.
Now, amidst the aftermath of the Dobbs Decision, Hoffman has carefully compiled her decades of analysis, research, and experience into a tour de force manifesto that sheds light on the catastrophic repercussions of overturning Roe, and what we must do moving forward to ensure the safety and legality of abortion nationally.
In Choices , Hoffman expresses her views on where we are and what lies ahead. She covers topics ranging revamping the healthcare system to support women’s rights; combatting rising authoritarianism; the weaponization of religion; fighting the antis; practicing courage; sabotage from within the movement; and activating the next generation in the fight for reproductive justice.
- GenresFeminism
240 pages, Hardcover
Published November 14, 2023
6 people are currently reading
127 people want to read
About the author
Merle Hoffman
3 books8 followersMerle Hoffman is an award-winning journalist, activist, and women's health care pioneer. In 1971, she founded CHOICES, one of the first ambulatory abortion centers, which has become one of the nation's largest and most comprehensive women's medical facilities in the US. She is also the publisher of On the Issues, an online feminist magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 29, 2024
One of the most well written books I’ve ever read. I don’t know how I didn’t know about Merle Hoffman until now she is everything I want to become.
September 27, 2024
a ramble of personal grievances and random thoughts. she's right about a few things tho
March 5, 2024
Merle Hoffman's newest publication is not simply a book; it serves as a powerful rallying cry for the protection of women's rights and reproductive healthcare. CHOICES: A Post-Roe Abortion Rights Manifesto resonates with passion and urgency, inspiring readers to take action and champion these essential causes. In a time where the topic of abortion access polarizes communities and ignites legislative battles, Hoffman offers a compelling assessment of the current landscape from the perspective of a seasoned pro-choice activist.
By the end, one does not simply close the cover on a collection of pages; instead, readers will likely find themselves opening a new chapter on activism. This book is a must-read, an essential guidepost in the ever-evolving discourse around women's rights.
By the end, one does not simply close the cover on a collection of pages; instead, readers will likely find themselves opening a new chapter on activism. This book is a must-read, an essential guidepost in the ever-evolving discourse around women's rights.
September 3, 2025
Whether you have a vagina or not you should read this book.
EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK!!!
Choices isn't just about feminism or reproductive right. It's common sense! If you can become pregnant or make someone pregnant read this book.
Merele Hoffman is the voice of reason that we need right now. In a world where people elect convicts for the second time, having someone speak the truth and not sugarcoat it is vital.
Choices is a hard read not because it's full of horrific stories. It is because there is nothing but data and facts to prove her points. Opinions change, emperical evidence is forever.
Perhaps I am biased because I share similar views to the author. My views are influenced by experience as a woman with Endometriosis and Celiac.
I have a degree in journalism. I was a journalist. Like journalists, doctors should be impartial, provide unbiased suggestions to patients. Yet this book states that many women said their primary doctor or gynocologist told them that the pill is far more dangerous than repeat abortions?! Or that the pill and abortions would give a woman cancer?! WTF! Now, I understand why my Mother did not want me to be on birth control. Nevermind, that birthcontrol is the only thing that has helped me tame my Endometriosis.
I have always believed that freedon is earned. Freedom must be worked for. At any second, freedom can be taken away by apathy. Abortion IS healthcare.
I also have a degree in English. I specialized in British literature. I loved Victorian literature except for one author, Arnold Carlyle. The original incel. Choices confirms my disdain for Carlyle. Hoffman said that pro-lifers would qoute Carlyle. I have always thought that anyone who qoutes Carlyle is trash. I had to read Carlyle's classist and sexist dribble in class.
In addition, I agree that abortion is not a private topic. As such, supporters should be public and share their experiences or stories if they have them.
Lastly, by not providing safe access to healthcare or allowing body autonomy Hoffman and I believe that the government is infantilising its citizens. Every time I talk to people about how I am against total government control because the goverment seeks to control its citizens everyone looks at me like I'm Dale Gribble from King of the Hill. But what people do not realise is that parents guide their children. But what happens when women can't be their own parents? And instead the government chooses to be the "parent." Women cannot make their own choices because of laws built on a non-existent God? Children will be raising children. The cycle of trauma will continue to perputate. The cycle will never cease.
As a librarian, I see the cycle of trauma every day at work. Full grown adukts throwing fits like children. Parents expecting their older children will parent their siblings. Parents dropping their kids off at the library and acting like we've been trained to be nannies or acting like the library is a daycare. Adults not possessing emotional intelligence and then raising children.
My favorite qoutes are below.
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 actuon that allows them to survive at that point in their lives." xvii
"I learned that it is in the 'if only' that the reality of abortion resides. It's there in the vast expanse of a lived life-the sum of experience, the pull of attachment, the pain of ambivalence. 'If only' is a theme with thousands of variations." 19
"Nothing stops abortion- no law, no government, no religious authority. Making abortion illegal only makes it dangerous and deadly." 26
"When a woman is forced, coerced, legistlated into carrying a child she does not want, birthing it, and then being responsible for its life for the rest of hers, that is a definition of slavery-the picture of a bond servant." 30
"Whose property are women's bodies, if 'inalienable' rights are God-given away." 30
"Legal abortion increases the wantedness of each child." 92
"Abortion is the bloody part of feminism." 101
"Self is born in resistance. And the creation of the self defines its boundaries in the struggle and the negotiation with others. If you do not push against something that pushes or binds you, there is no tension. There can be no self." 133
"Feminism should not be about gender, age, race or class. It is about the vision of equality and justice for over half of humanity. And the line in the sand is reproductive justice." 167
EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK!!!
Choices isn't just about feminism or reproductive right. It's common sense! If you can become pregnant or make someone pregnant read this book.
Merele Hoffman is the voice of reason that we need right now. In a world where people elect convicts for the second time, having someone speak the truth and not sugarcoat it is vital.
Choices is a hard read not because it's full of horrific stories. It is because there is nothing but data and facts to prove her points. Opinions change, emperical evidence is forever.
Perhaps I am biased because I share similar views to the author. My views are influenced by experience as a woman with Endometriosis and Celiac.
I have a degree in journalism. I was a journalist. Like journalists, doctors should be impartial, provide unbiased suggestions to patients. Yet this book states that many women said their primary doctor or gynocologist told them that the pill is far more dangerous than repeat abortions?! Or that the pill and abortions would give a woman cancer?! WTF! Now, I understand why my Mother did not want me to be on birth control. Nevermind, that birthcontrol is the only thing that has helped me tame my Endometriosis.
I have always believed that freedon is earned. Freedom must be worked for. At any second, freedom can be taken away by apathy. Abortion IS healthcare.
I also have a degree in English. I specialized in British literature. I loved Victorian literature except for one author, Arnold Carlyle. The original incel. Choices confirms my disdain for Carlyle. Hoffman said that pro-lifers would qoute Carlyle. I have always thought that anyone who qoutes Carlyle is trash. I had to read Carlyle's classist and sexist dribble in class.
In addition, I agree that abortion is not a private topic. As such, supporters should be public and share their experiences or stories if they have them.
Lastly, by not providing safe access to healthcare or allowing body autonomy Hoffman and I believe that the government is infantilising its citizens. Every time I talk to people about how I am against total government control because the goverment seeks to control its citizens everyone looks at me like I'm Dale Gribble from King of the Hill. But what people do not realise is that parents guide their children. But what happens when women can't be their own parents? And instead the government chooses to be the "parent." Women cannot make their own choices because of laws built on a non-existent God? Children will be raising children. The cycle of trauma will continue to perputate. The cycle will never cease.
As a librarian, I see the cycle of trauma every day at work. Full grown adukts throwing fits like children. Parents expecting their older children will parent their siblings. Parents dropping their kids off at the library and acting like we've been trained to be nannies or acting like the library is a daycare. Adults not possessing emotional intelligence and then raising children.
My favorite qoutes are below.
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 actuon that allows them to survive at that point in their lives." xvii
"I learned that it is in the 'if only' that the reality of abortion resides. It's there in the vast expanse of a lived life-the sum of experience, the pull of attachment, the pain of ambivalence. 'If only' is a theme with thousands of variations." 19
"Nothing stops abortion- no law, no government, no religious authority. Making abortion illegal only makes it dangerous and deadly." 26
"When a woman is forced, coerced, legistlated into carrying a child she does not want, birthing it, and then being responsible for its life for the rest of hers, that is a definition of slavery-the picture of a bond servant." 30
"Whose property are women's bodies, if 'inalienable' rights are God-given away." 30
"Legal abortion increases the wantedness of each child." 92
"Abortion is the bloody part of feminism." 101
"Self is born in resistance. And the creation of the self defines its boundaries in the struggle and the negotiation with others. If you do not push against something that pushes or binds you, there is no tension. There can be no self." 133
"Feminism should not be about gender, age, race or class. It is about the vision of equality and justice for over half of humanity. And the line in the sand is reproductive justice." 167
March 5, 2024
In her book, Merle Hoffman boldly analyzes the current state of the abortion movement in the United States. With a passion for women's rights, she advocates for women's access to abortion, and uses her extensive experience in pro-choice activism to examine the motivations of anti-choice activists. Her thought-provoking analysis is a must-read for everyone who cares about women's rights and reproductive healthcare.
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April 10, 2024Read for class
August 3, 2024
If we don’t educate ourselves, we lose our rights
February 16, 2026
The author thinks quite highly of herself and it centers around all she has done for the movement, lacking an intersectional lens or approach.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews