Career
Abato started in the porn business in 1990 after several lean years of waiting tables. By the end of 1991, though, the fear of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and a growing desire to quit the adult film industry prompted her to appear in "specialty videos" (bondage films) where sexual intercourse did not occur. Ryder retired in late 1992 and became an anti-pornography crusader.
She established the Holly Ryder Foundation (a nonprofit organization designed to intervene in the lives of street youths), which sought to place an initiative on the 1994 California ballot that would ban pornographic film production & distribution in California.