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]