In Choice,
Jessica

I always like to ask before I give out handouts, some people want them some don’t.

And like I said, I think it’s important to establish from the getgo that you are not there to stop her if getting information on carrying her fetus to term is what she wants.

Hi, my name is Robin. do you have a moment? Okay great. I notice you going into this clinic, and I don’t want to make presumptions, are you looking for reproductive services? Okay, well, let me tell you what this place is. It is a Crisis Pregnancy Center run by pro-life organizations. It may be what you want, and it may not be. But let me tell you, if were looking for unbiased evidence based choices that you can make regarding pregnancy, including abortion, you won’t get it here. Instead, you will be exposed to lies(insert lies/half truths that CPCs usually provide) and they will do their best, if you even remotely considering aborition to coerce you out of it. Some CPCs across the country even go so far as to contact your friends and relatives to apply pressure to you. I can’t vouch that this one does this, but it is certainly a tactic.(The one near my house does this) Since I believe so strongly in choice, whether you carry your fetus to term or not is your choice, I wanted to give you this information. Here is the name and address of the local Planned Parenthood. This center will tell you lies and half-truths about PP, but let me tell you, PP is committed to reproductive health and providing unbiased evidence on all your options, including the option of carrying your fetus to term. Thanks for your time, and good luck. Shake hands as you ask if she would like evidence based research versus the lies and half truths CPCs tell their clients. Walk away so she can make her own decision.

Why can’t we have our own sidewalk counselors outside CPCs too?

And, I would so be an abortion doula. But then I would be a hospital-non-pregnancy related doula, and a death doula too.

great post, learned a lot

I know that I am not the only woman who has had an abortion who feels this way. I know of at least 3 other friends in my life who felt similarly, wrote long poems filled with words of love toward the unborn conception, cried many tears, and prayed or poured out energy into the universe with the hopes that the unborn conception would feel nothing but peacefulness in heaven knowning how much he/she was loved. I also know of several would-have-been fathers who went through the same emotions.

I think that these stories are so important to tell! I know that it could be easy for the anti-abortion movement to co-opt their meaning, and twist them into evidence of how “wrong” abortion is. But as feminists, I believe it is part of the story of being a woman, and we should feel free to express it fully. Also, I hope it could be a way of re-directing the focus away from the moral judgment aspect of abortion, and whether it’s “right” or “wrong,” and toward the reality that women facing an unplanned pregnancy face: very little time to make a very big decision that will affect herself, a potential future person, and possibly a partner, other family members and friends forever… all this in a situation that may hold few immediate resources or support systems, and possibly even negative forces of fierce judgment or abandonment if she were to not have an abortion.

I feel that an abortion can be a very traumatic experience, and that women who are PRO-CHOICE should feel free and comfortable expressing that and talking about it openly and honestly. Acknowledging the emotions that we feel does NOT weaken our position. I believe it only makes it stronger in showing that women make CONSCIOUS decisions about their lives, their bodies, and their potential future families.

Many abortion clinics probably have this non-medical-provider support available, with varying degrees of involvement and formality, but I think your idea takes it further and would be fantastic to get it played out in reality. It seems like framing support in terms of doulahood can not only help practitioners to have more of a firm grounding in what their ‘job’ is, but also is intuitive: abortion as a realistic process in a woman’s sexual life, a process with the kind of potential to be normalized (instead of stigmatized) that doulas are great at bringing out when it comes to birth (and death, too…for all those death doulas out there).

What I would have loved to be able to do as a ‘patient advocate’ is to be able to follow up with women to debrief, as you suggest, after the acuteness of the procedure is over. Perhaps some clinics/providers, if they don’t have a support system in place, would welcome a doula as a private practitioner…or would consider instituting an advocate system (a little searching [or just email me] will get you the contact info for the woman who runs the advocate program for oregon/southern washington). Otherwise, it may be a matter of being ‘hired’ directly by a client, á la other types of doulas, and this would take some spread-the-word activity. Potential setback, tho: not many clinics allow women’s support system in for the procedure unless they are part of the instution itself…

Good thoughts. Good luck.