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Abzug then worked as a lawyer for the next
twenty five years, specializing in labor and
tenants’ rights, and civil
rights and liberties cases. During the
McCarthy era 
she was one of the few attorneys willing to fight
against the House Un-American Activities Committee.
While she ran her own practice, she was also
raising
two daughters together with her husband
Martin.
In the 1960’s, Abzug helped start the
nationwide Women
Strike For Peace (WSP), in response to
U.S.and Soviet nuclear testing, and soon became an
important voice against the Vietnam War.
At the age of 50, Abzug ran
for congress in Manhattan and won on a
strong feminist
and peace platform. She quickly became a nationally
known legislator, one of only 12 women
in the House. Her record
of accomplishments in Congress
continually demonstrated her unshakable convictions
as an anti-war activist and as a fighter for social
and economic justice.
After three terms in Congress, Abzug gave up her
seat in 1976 to run
for an all male Senate, but lost the
democratic primary by less than one percent. In an
increasingly conservative political climate, Abzug
also lost later bids for city mayor
and for Congress.
In 1977, she presided over the historic first
National
Women's Conference in Houston. She then
headed President Carter's National Advisory
Committee on Women until she was abruptly
fired for criticizing the
administration's economic policies in 1979.
In response, Abzug founded Women
USA, a grassroots political action
organization. At the same time, she was playing a
major role at the UN International
Women's Conferences, practicing law,
publishing
and lecturing.
In 1986 she suffered the loss of her greatest
supporter, her
husband Martin.
In 1990, Bella moved on to co-found the
Women's
Environment and Development Organization
(WEDO), an international activist and advocacy
network. As WEDO president, Abzug became an
influential leader at the United Nations and at UN
world conferences, working to empower women around
the globe.
Abzug gave her final
public speech before the UN in March of
1998, and died soon after, at the age of 77. Her
death is still being mourned
in this country and around the world.
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