Sunny is a rising junior working at Hollaback, which combats street harassment locally and globally.
Silence.
“Well, I have.”
In part, that’s why Merle Hoffman is so inspiring. Clearly a brilliant businessperson, she’s brazenly passionate about her work, and unafraid of encountering opposition, but she also, deeply, personally knows what she’s talking about. From the start, she shocked us into wondering why we were so shocked—if one third of women in America have abortions sometime in their lives, why don’t we ever talk about it like this?
Headed to Choices, I didn’t know what to expect. I definitely identify as pro-choice, but thinking about abortion as a theoretical issue is vastly different from visiting a clinic, or thinking about abortion in your own life. I’ve never been involved in advocating for reproductive rights, or even felt comfortable enough with my knowledge on the issue to contribute much of an opinion.
But listening to Merle talk about it, it just made sense— a woman should be able to choose when, if ever, she wants to have a child. Abortion is legal, and a woman should be able to access her reproductive rights regardless of which state she lives in or her financial situation.
The national conversation on abortion has been especially rough in the past year—from personhood laws, to bans limiting the abortion timeframe, to the Georgia state senator’s comparison of pregnant women to pregnant livestock. For many women, the right to abortion is threatened by cost and local access to a provider. That’s why Merle has dedicated her life to this clinic, which provides counseling and reproductive health services (both pre-natal care and abortion services) to ensure that all women, including Medicare recipients, have access to their right to choose.
Although Hollaback has chosen to avoid taking a stance on politicized topics like abortion, I do see a connection with the way Merle was so open about her experience. Hollaback is all about gaining the courage to speak out, break the silence on something that is a big part of so many women’s lives.
