Merle Hoffman
American journalist and activist
Merle Hoffman (born March 6, 1946) is an American journalist and activist.
Shortly after New York State legalized abortion in 1970, three years before the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion nationally, Hoffman helped establish one of the country's first ambulatory abortion centers, Flushing Women's Medical Center in 1971. It was the forerunner of Choices Women's Medical Center which Hoffman founded and serves as president and CEO. Choices is a full-service healthcare provider, offering gynecological services, pre-natal care, family care, transgender health care, telemedicine, mental health and other services.
Hoffman co-founded the National Abortion Federation in 1976, the first professional organization of abortion providers in the U.S., and was its first president. She also founded the New York Pro-Choice Coalition in 1985. Hoffman is the publisher of On the Issues magazine, which began as a print publication in 1983 and then became an online publication in 2008. She was awarded the Front Page Award for Political Commentary in 2010 from the Newswoman's Club of New York.
Early life
Hoffman was born in Philadelphia and raised in New York City in a Jewish family. Initially intent on becoming a concert pianist, she attended the High School of Music and Art in New York City and graduated from Chatham Square Music School.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Merle Hoffman” as american journalist and activist. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american journalist and activist. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6819696. VIAF identifies the subject as 170278826. The Library of Congress control number is n2011181423. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1946, 1970, 1971 and 1976.
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This entry incorporates text from “Merle Hoffman” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.