MERJ Newsletter 1/22/2026
📚 MERJ Book Club!
If you’re interested in joining one of our future book discussions, email us at action@endthepatriarchy.org, and we’ll be happy to invite you!
Men and Abortion:
Lessons, Losses, and Love
Arthur B. Shostak
(Author)
,
Lynn Seng
(Author)
,
Gary McLouth
(Author)
Originally published October 15, 1984; notes below from Bookshop.org page.
Here is a pioneering and revealing study of the meaning of the abortion experience for American men.
The book draws on over 400 detailed surveys from men involved in an abortion, along with opinion data from secondary polls of American women.
“Shostak and colleagues have amassed a valuable set of quantitative and qualitative data blended with a richly sensitive, compassionate, and thought-provoking discussion...." -Contemporary Sociology
Other books we’ve read, and strongly recommend:
Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty, by Dorothy Roberts
Abortion: Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use to Win, by Jessica Valenti
Ejaculate Responsibly: A Whole New Way to Think About Abortion, by Gabrielle Blair
Comics for Choice, ed. Newlevant, Taylor, and Fox
You’re the Only One I’ve Told: The Stories Behind Abortion, by Dr. Meera Shah
Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organize for Reproductive Justice, by Silliman, Gerber Fried, Ross, and Gutiérrez
Reproductive Justice: An Introduction, by Loretta J. Ross and Rickie Solinger
A letter from MERJ’s co-founder
A Major Win—and a Major Warning for the Fight Ahead
Dear MERJ Community,
WIN: Celebrating 30 Years of HIPS’ Radical Care and Leadership
In a moment when bodily autonomy is under relentless attack, we also have reason to celebrate—and draw strength from—organizations that have been holding the line long before reproductive justice became a national headline.
This year marks 30 years of HIPS, a DC-based powerhouse that has spent three decades providing judgment-free, harm-reduction-based support to sex workers, people who use drugs, LGBTQ+ youth, and communities that experience criminalization at the highest rates.
For 30 years, HIPS has shown what real care looks like:
Compassion instead of stigma
Safety instead of surveillance
Harm reduction instead of punishment
Autonomy instead of coercion
Their work reminds us that reproductive justice doesn’t start or end with abortion. It's about the fundamental right to control your own body, your safety, and your decisions—without fear.
As men in this movement, this anniversary is a moment to reflect on the models of care that lead with dignity and to recommit ourselves to showing up as consistent, vocal allies.
THREAT: The Rise of “Catch Kits” and the Criminalization of Medication Abortion
Even as we celebrate HIPS’ legacy, we must turn our attention to a deeply disturbing development emerging in anti-abortion policy circles: the push for “catch kits.”
Under proposed policies, patients who take mifepristone for a medication abortion could be required to:
Collect their pregnancy tissue at home
Place it in a state-approved bag
Turn it over to a provider or government entity as “medical waste”
This policy is not about health.
It is not about safety.
It is not about science.
It is about surveillance.
“Catch kits” are designed to create shame, fear, and documentation—laying the groundwork for further criminalization of people who self-manage their abortions or experience pregnancy loss. It is an attempt to turn private medical care into evidence collection. This is an escalation of state control over people’s bodies and bathrooms, one step closer to monitoring pregnancy outcomes through coercive tactics.
Men can:
Use your voice to challenge shame-based narratives around abortion.
SUPPORT HIPS, a powerful model of compassionate care.
Read policies that turn reproductive healthcare into criminal evidence
Let’s show up.
Let’s stay loud.
And let’s protect the right to bodily autonomy for all.
In loving community,
Justin Haas and the MERJ Team
📖 5Minute Power Read from News from the States:
“Trials show successful ballot initiatives are only the beginning of restoring abortion access”
Small excerpt: “The outcome of two trials in the coming weeks could shape what it will look like when voters overturn state abortion bans through future ballot initiatives. Arizona and Missouri voters in November 2024 struck down their respective near-total abortion bans. Both states added abortion access up to ‘fetal viability’ as a right in their constitutions, although Arizonans approved the amendment by a much wider margin than Missouri voters.
That was just the beginning of protracted legal battles. Amy Myrick, senior counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said ballot measures are a powerful and important step in returning abortion access to a state, but success on Election Day doesn’t mean the fight is over.”
🎥🍿 Movie Power Watch Recommendation:
“The Feminist in Cellblock Y” (2018)
Film by Contessa Gayles (75 minutes)
Richard Edmond Vargas, also known as "Richie Reseda," is a convicted felon who has been serving time in an all-male prison in Soledad, California, for armed robbery since he was a teen. "The Feminist on Cellblock Y" follows the now 25-year-old Reseda and his fellow prison mates as they participate in an inmate rehabilitation program centered around feminist literature. These men spend their days learning about the patriarchy, discovering the power of vulnerability, and personally combating toxic masculinity. Additionally, the program encourages the men to confront all of the areas where these toxic ideals of masculinity have prevailed in their lives. "We cannot challenge our harmful behavior without challenging patriarchy," Reseda says in the film.
💸 Amazing Organization to Support:
Mayday Health is a nonprofit that exists to provide information about how people can get mail-order abortion pills, birth control, emergency contraception, and gender affirming care in all 50 states, regardless of harmful state restrictions.
An investment in Mayday is an investment in those who are most harmed by abortion bans.
Mayday has been in the news a lot recently; please donate to support their important work!
“When we talk about ‘reproductive rights’ this is what we mean. It’s the difference between people as objects, and people as agents: between regarding people as pawns on the policy chessboard and recognizing them as the players, the decision-makers, the drivers of policy; autonomous individuals intimately concerned with the direction of their own lives. Under these conditions women, especially, enjoy better health and live fuller lives.”
Help and Resources to Share with Anyone Needing an Abortion: (from ifwhenhow.org)
Find a local clinic by using the National Abortion Federation map.
If you have questions about your legal rights and self-managed abortion, the Repro Legal Helpline is a free, confidential source for legal advice and information. Visit ReproLegalHelpline.org or call 844-868-2812.
If you are under 18 and need information about your rights to an abortion, you can message or call our Repro Legal Helpline at 844-868-2812. You can also read more about your rights on our Judicial Bypass Wiki.
If you have been arrested, contacted by the police, or fear you may be arrested for a self-managed abortion, our Repro Legal Helpline can provide immediate legal advice and support, and our Repro Legal Defense Fund can help with bail and legal fees. You can call our Repro Legal Helpline at 844-868-2812, and for help with bail and other fees, visit ReproLegalDefenseFund.org.
Medically-reviewed, step-by-step directions for how to self-administer a medication abortion using mifepristone and misoprostol can be found on the Hey Jane website.
