Bella Abzug

Bella Abzug is an attorney, author, lecturer, news commentator, and former US Representative from New York. She has been a lifelong activist in support of civil rights, equal rights for women and disarmament, and in 1970 she became the first woman elected to Congress on a women's rights/peace platform. As a lawmaker, Ms. Abzug co-authored the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts. She was the first to call for President Nixon's impeachment in the 1970s and cast one of the first votes for the Equal Rights Amendment.

She is currently co-chair of the Women's Environmental Development Organization (WEDO). In this capacity, she served as senior advisor to UNCED Secretary General Maurice Strong and successfully campaigned to incorporate key issues of the women's agenda into official statements approved at the Earth Summit. In 1991, she presided over the Women's Congress for a Healthy Planet.

While giving most of her time to environmental work, Bella Abzug continues to devote her energies to women's rights and reproductive freedom. She played a major role in the UN Decade for Women. She is chair of New York city's Commission on the Status of Women and is directing a National Parity Campaign to increase the number of women in elective office.