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]
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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
edit- ^ "Meet Our New Executive Director: Pamela Merritt!". Medical Students for Choice. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
- ^ "White GOP Lawmakers Behind Almost Every Anti-Choice Bill in 2017 - Rewire". Rewire. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
- ^ Bernhard, Blythe. "Supreme Court's ruling on abortion could have impact in Missouri". stltoday.com. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ "Pro-choice advocates protest 'fake clinics', state funds for needy families are going to anti-abortion facilities". St. Louis American. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
- ^ "Did Racism Kill Erica Garner?". Vice. 2018-01-02. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ Crowley, Brendan. "Panelists say white people need to do more to fight white supremacy". Columbia Missourian. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
- ^ Turnbull, Lornet. "Reproductive Freedom Depends on Where You Live. How Does Your City Rank?". YES! Magazine. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
- ^ a b c "Amnesty reveals alarming impact of online abuse against women". www.amnesty.org. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
- ^ "Blogger Takes Issue with Recent Steinem Op-ed". NPR.org. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
- ^ "Why We're Losing the Planned Parenthood Debate". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
- ^ "Why younger women love Bernie Sanders, and why it drives older women crazy". Vox. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
- ^ "It's Too Early To Praise Twitter For Enforcing New Anti-Abuse Rules". Retrieved 2018-01-23.
- ^ "Social media and the silencing effect: why misogyny online is a human rights issue". www.newstatesman.com. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
- ^ "Board of Directors". Guttmacher Institute. 2015-11-20. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
- ^ "Who We Are". Our Bodies Ourselves Today. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
- ^ "Red-State Progressives Hold the Blueprint for the Trump Resistance". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
- ^ Kamp, David (2008-03-23). "Sarah Boxer - Sunday Book Review". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-01-23.