Pamela Merritt

Pamela Merritt is an American writer and reproductive justice activist who advocates for women's rights and against white supremacy. Merritt is the executive director at Medical Students for Choice (MSFC), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a network of over 10,000 medical students and residents around the world.[1]

Prior to joining MSFC, Merritt co-founded and served with Erin Matson as co-director at Reproaction, a reproductive justice organization that works to increase access to abortion,[2][3] expose deceptive practices at pregnancy crisis centers,[4][5] and improve infant and maternal death rates.[6][7][8][9] Merritt advocates for recruiting and training more doulas and midwives to improve birth mortality rates.[10] She has published thousands of articles on racism and gender, and been featured on several national websites for her activism and expertise, including on the Washington Post,[7] NPR,[11] Rolling Stone,[12] Vox,[13] and the Huffington Post.[4]

Merritt regularly receives violent sexual threats in response to her work, and is harassed extensively online on social media.[14] She says she routinely reports the most threatening incidents to the police,[15] and was once warned by the FBI about a white supremacist actively trying to find her home address, forcing her to change her online habits.[10]

Merritt is a member of the Guttmacher Institute board of directors,[16] the Leadership Council of Our Bodies Ourselves Today,[17] and is the Honorary Chair of the Reproaction Advisory Council. She has spoken out strongly against Donald Trump.[18] She grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and before becoming an activist worked for a St. Louis newspaper.[10][19]

Merritt attended Bard College at Simon's Rock and Brandeis University, where she studied anthropology and women's studies.

References

  1. "Meet Our New Executive Director: Pamela Merritt!". Medical Students for Choice. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
  2. "White GOP Lawmakers Behind Almost Every Anti-Choice Bill in 2017 - Rewire". Rewire. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  3. Bernhard, Blythe. "Supreme Court's ruling on abortion could have impact in Missouri". stltoday.com. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  4. 1 2 Matson, Erin; Merritt, Pamela; Simpson, Monica Raye (2017-08-11). "The Creepy 'Big Data' Crisis Pregnancy Center Group that Must Be Stopped". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  5. "Pro-choice advocates protest 'fake clinics', state funds for needy families are going to anti-abortion facilities". St. Louis American. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  6. "Did Racism Kill Erica Garner?". Vice. 2018-01-02. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  7. 1 2 Chandler, Michael Alison (2018-01-19). "'Badass. Prolife. Feminist.' How the 'pro-life feminist' movement is straddling the March for Life and Women's March". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  8. Crowley, Brendan. "Panelists say white people need to do more to fight white supremacy". Columbia Missourian. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  9. Turnbull, Lornet. "Reproductive Freedom Depends on Where You Live. How Does Your City Rank?". YES! Magazine. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  10. 1 2 3 "Amnesty reveals alarming impact of online abuse against women". www.amnesty.org. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  11. "Blogger Takes Issue with Recent Steinem Op-ed". NPR.org. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  12. "Why We're Losing the Planned Parenthood Debate". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  13. "Why younger women love Bernie Sanders, and why it drives older women crazy". Vox. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  14. "It's Too Early To Praise Twitter For Enforcing New Anti-Abuse Rules". Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  15. "Social media and the silencing effect: why misogyny online is a human rights issue". www.newstatesman.com. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  16. "Board of Directors". Guttmacher Institute. 2015-11-20. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
  17. "Who We Are". Our Bodies Ourselves Today. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
  18. "Red-State Progressives Hold the Blueprint for the Trump Resistance". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  19. Kamp, David (2008-03-23). "Sarah Boxer - Sunday Book Review". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
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