MERJ Newsletter 8/25/2026
(Gayatri Malhotra, source)
A letter from MERJ’s co-founder
MERJ Is Entering a New Chapter!
Dear MERJ Community:
MERJ has officially become a fiscally sponsored project of The Givinga Foundation! This important step gives us the infrastructure to raise funds, pursue new base-building opportunities, deepen new and existing partnerships, and expand our programming.
We made this transition partially because more and more individuals and organizations involved in fighting for reproductive access and justice have expressed their interest in potentially partnering and working with MERJ, and partially because we are feeling increasing urgency for men to move beyond identifying as “pro-choice” and become active participants in the movement for reproductive freedom. Men can bring their time, money, relationships, skills, and voices to this work, and MERJ is building a community where that support becomes action.
MERJ is On the Move!
We recently held our second in-person event, “Divine Choices: Religion, Morality, and Reproductive Care,” in partnership with the Unitarian Universalist community in Santa Fe. The conversation brought faith leaders and community members together to explore the intersections of religion, morality, bodily autonomy, and reproductive care. The following day, we put that conversation into practice: 25 new MERJ members came together to build 116 abortion care packages, which we delivered to Valley Abortion Group in Albuquerque, one of only five all-trimester abortion clinics in the country and the only one run by women of color.
This is the kind of work we want MERJ to do more of―creating spaces for learning and reflection, and then giving people concrete ways to show up for their communities.
MERJ is preparing three additional community assembly events in Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus, Ohio, in partnership with Aria Medical Clinic, Preterm, Planned Parenthood Cincinnati, and Faith Choice Ohio.
MERJ Will Not Be Silent on Trans Issues
We also want to be clear about where MERJ stands on gender-affirming care. We support access to gender-affirming healthcare because we believe bodily autonomy must apply to everyone. Decisions about a person’s healthcare should be made by the person seeking care, their family when appropriate, and their healthcare provider—not politicians.
Trans women and girls have been integral to the fight for gender liberation, and we uphold that truth while denouncing the ongoing anti-transgender rhetoric and political efforts targeting their lives and dignity. Transgender women are women, and transgender girls are girls. We believe honoring the diversity of women's experiences strengthens—not diminishes—the feminist movement.
Our bodies belong to us. Healthcare decisions belong to us.
This is our future: pro-bodily autonomy, pro-reproductive rights and pro-gender-affirming healthcare. MERJ is moving men from passive support to informed, sustained action. We hope you'll be part of it.
In solidarity,
The MERJ Team
📖 5 Minute Power Read from Abortion, Every Day:
“A Federal Judge Says the Constitution Still Protects Abortion”
Excerpt: “For the first time since the end of Roe v Wade, a federal court has ruled that there are still protections for abortion rights under the U.S. Constitution. Specifically, a U.S. district court judge in Idaho ruled that women have a constitutional right to abortion to preserve their physical and mental health. Not just to save their lives, and not just to prevent a major health catastrophe—but to protect their ongoing health.”
🎥🍿 Power Watch Recommendation:
Episode 24 of the “My Body, My Pod” video podcast produced by Reproductive Freedom for All, August 3, 2026 (37 minutes)
From the description: “Mini and Julie Dig into:
—How telemedicine shield laws protect providers caring for patients “regardless of patient location”
—How abusive ex-partners and anti-abortion lawyers are weaponizing bounty hunter laws to intimidate and exert control over pregnant people
—Why anti-abortion forces are targeting mifepristone and telemedicine abortion
—How Democratic governors and attorneys general are blocking attempts to export abortion bans
—Why elections and court reform are critical to protecting and expanding abortion access”
💸 Amazing Organization to Support:
Preterm is a licensed ambulatory surgery facility and an independent, nonprofit abortion clinic in Cleveland, OH, that does not receive government funding. MERJ is proud to be partnering with Preterm in an upcoming abortion-kit-building project.
From their website: “Preterm's mission is to advance reproductive health and justice by providing safe, respectful, and accessible abortion and sexual healthcare. Abortion is essential to bodily autonomy and gender equity for all people. Providing abortions is a deeply caring and revolutionary act that is part of dismantling oppression and stigma. These are the values that guide Preterm’s commitment to abortion care. Preterm is Ohio's only independent, non-profit abortion clinic.”
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!
Originally published March 17, 2026; notes below from bookshop.org web page.
A powerful decade-long study of adoption in the age of Roe, revealing the grief of the American mothers for whom the choice to parent was never real. Adoption has always been viewed as a beloved institution for building families, as well as a mutually agreeable common ground in the abortion debate, but little attention has been paid to the lives of mothers who relinquish infants for private adoption. Relinquished reveals adoption to be a path of constrained choice for those for whom abortion is inaccessible, or for whom parenthood is untenable. The stories of relinquishing mothers are stories about our country's refusal to care for families at the most basic level, and to instead embrace an individual, private solution to a large-scale, social problem.
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
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.
