We are a group of migrants
and ethnic-minorities
living in Ireland
fighting for reproductive justice
for all people.

MERJ was founded in September 2017 by migrant women of colour who had been actively involved in the campaign for abortion rights in Ireland for years. We were tired of always being the only migrants in the room and we wanted to see ourselves and our communities reflected in the wider movement. We were tired of always having to fight for inclusion and recognition of our lives as important and our contributions as valuable. We were tired of seeing Savita’s face being used as a symbol of a movement but no women who looked like Savita speaking in the movement. We started MERJ to create a platform for the often hidden faces and voices of migrants and ethnic minorities in Ireland that were all but missing from Irish feminism. We wanted to challenge the whiteness, maleness and settledness of the left and fight for our place in the movement.

We wanted to fully participate in radical politics in Ireland on our own terms. We wanted to broaden the scope of our work beyond a single issue because as Audre Lorde said, “we don’t live single issue lives”.
And most importantly, we wanted to create a space where migrant and ethnic minority women, non-binary and trans people could come together and share our politics and experiences, learn from each other and support one another in the struggle. We are still learning and growing both as individuals and as a collective, but we have certainly made a significant contribution to the feminist discourse in Ireland in the short time MERJ has existed.

A luta continua!