After living and studying music in Paris, Hoffman returned to the United States and graduated from Queens College, Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude in 1972.

[6] In her 2012 memoir, Intimate Wars: The Life and Times of the Woman Who Brought Abortion from the Back Alley to the Boardroom,[7] Hoffman recounts how she was exposed to feminist activism at Queens College in the late '60s and early '70s.

In her memoir, Hoffman recalls that her first exposure to abortion had been when she was about ten: "I overheard my parents' discussion of a Philadelphia physician whose patient had died while he was performing an illegal procedure.

"[11] In November, 1974, Hoffman was the initiator and moderator for New York City's first Women's Health Forum,[12] with speakers including Barbara Ehrenreich and Congresswoman Bella Abzug.

Previously, doctors had simply removed the breast of any woman whose biopsy came back positive while she was still anesthetized and before she had the opportunity to learn about her options or make decisions.

[13] When Hoffman learned about the lack of birth control options available to women in Russia,[14] she organized and led a trip of physicians and counselors from Choices on a well-publicized educational exchange there.

[23] The study, "Abortionomics: When Choice is a Necessity – The Impact of Recession on Abortion," was updated in 2011, and the results were presented at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on January 19, 2012.

[28] Hoffman's memoir, Intimate Wars: The Life and Times of the Woman Who Brought Abortion from the Back Alley to the Boardroom, was published in 2012 by Feminist Press.

When Operation Rescue announced it would shut down abortion services in New York City for a week in the spring of 1988, the New York Pro-Choice Coalition, founded by Hoffman, responded by rebranding those days "Reproductive Freedom Week," organizing a counter protest that drew 1,300 activists and supporters,[30] and dispatching supporters to ensure that every clinic or doctor's offices Operation Rescue targeted remained open.

Hoffman's essay did "a brilliant job with a controversial subject," said syndicated columnist Lenore Skenazy, who presented the Opinion Writing Award to her at a dinner and ceremony in New York on Nov. 4, 2010.

The 1995 Media Award from Community Action NW was given to On the Issues for "Exceptional Merit" for the article, "Let's Get Tough on Rape," A Discussion with Prosecutors Liz Holtzman and Alice Vachss by Hoffman.

[42] In 2011, Hoffman endowed a director's position for sustained leadership of the Duke University Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture.