MERJ Newsletter 7/7/2026
(Samuel Corum / AFP via Getty Images, source)
A letter from MERJ’s co-founder
My Body, My Privacy: Why Bodily Autonomy Matters for Everyone
Dear MERJ Community:
Conversations about abortion and gender-affirming care are often framed as separate political issues. But at their core, they ask the same fundamental question:
Who gets to make healthcare decisions about my body?
For those of us committed to reproductive justice, the answer is clear: The people that should be making these decisions should be the ones seeking care and the professionals who steward it. The majority of Americans believe this.*
Seeking an abortion, accessing gender-affirming care, managing a miscarriage, pursuing fertility treatment, or making decisions about the end of life are all deeply personal healthcare choices. They require privacy, compassion, and medical expertise—not government surveillance or political interference. If we believe government should not dictate or interfere in our healthcare, then that principle should extend to everyone.
The fight for bodily autonomy is connected to broader systems of social and economic power. Patriarchal systems have historically sought to regulate reproduction and gender roles because families and caregiving shape labor, economic participation, and social control. History offers many examples of governments attempting to influence reproduction through restrictions on contraception and access to hormones, forced sterilization, family separation, and limits on who can marry and parent.
This history reminds us why privacy matters. Our government claims authority over intimate medical decisions, reaching far beyond a single issue or community.
This is why reproductive justice is about more than abortion. We know that reproductive justice is about the right to have children, the right not to have children, and the right to build families in communities of care. MERJ would like to add to this by demanding that all people have the right to make healthcare decisions free from coercion. It is also about ensuring that people have the economic resources, healthcare access, and community support needed to exercise those rights meaningfully.
Supporting bodily autonomy does not require everyone to make the same choices. It requires respecting that different people, facing different circumstances, will arrive at different decisions. A free society protects that space for conscience and personal dignity.
In solidarity,
The MERJ Team
*See the article below!
📖 5 Minute Power Read from The 19th:
More Americans see a future where gender-affirming care will be harder to access”
Excerpt: “A majority of Americans (53 percent) believe transgender adults should have access to gender-affirming care, while 37 percent believe that trans minors should have that same access. But they’re divided on whether politicians should intervene: Half of Americans oppose lawmakers banning or restricting care for transgender youth.”
🎥🍿 Power Listen Recommendation:
Episode 154 of the “R-Soul” podcast produced by Faith Choice Ohio, 2022 (67 minutes)
From the description: “As the United States rounds the corner on its 250th year post-independence, Kelley Fox and Rev. Terry Williams dig into what our national report card looks like at this point in a very complex history. Acknowledging the diversity of emotions this anniversary incites, Kelley and Terry discuss the political landscape of reproductive freedom and white Christian nationalism throughout U.S. history, as well as why raising gripes and grievances about our nation might just be the most patriotic way to celebrate a nation founded largely on a declaration of complaints.”
💸 Amazing Organization to Support:
At MERJ, we strongly support everyone’s right to access gender-affirming care.
The Queer Trans Project “radically transforms the lives of trans people by removing all barriers to access gender-affirming care. As a Black- and Trans-led force, we deliver life-saving resources that empower queer and trans people nationwide.
Please donate to support their important and inspiring non-profit work!
📚 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!
The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love
by bell hooks
Originally published 2020; notes below from bookshop.org web page.
From New York Times bestselling author, feminist pioneer, and cultural icon bell hooks, an evergreen treatise on how patriarchy and toxic masculinity hurts us all. Feminist writing did not tell us about the deep inner misery of men. Everyone needs to love and be loved--including men. But to know love, men must be able to look at the ways in which patriarchal culture keeps them from understanding themselves. In The Will to Change, bell hooks provides a compassionate guide for men of all ages and identities to understand how to be in touch with their feelings, and how to express versus repress the emotions that are a fundamental part of who we are. With trademark candor and fierce intelligence, hooks addresses the most common concerns of men, such as fear of intimacy and loss of their patriarchal place in society, in new and challenging ways.
Other books we’ve read, and strongly recommend:
Men and Abortion: Lessons, Losses, and Love, by Arthur B. Shostak, Lynn Seng, and Gary McLouth
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
Birthing Liberation: How Reproductive Justice Can Set Us Free, by Sabia Wade (pending book club choice)
“Freedom is indivisible or it is nothing at all besides sloganeering and temporary, short-sighted, and short-lived advancement for a few.”
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.
