We’re up to 42 programs in 15 states, the District of Columbia and two international programs. Pretty incredible.

That means there are likely thousands of you out there volunteering your time to support folks through pregnancy and childbirth. Amazing.

If you know of a volunteer program that is missing from my list, just send me an email with links or details and I’ll add it.

The list is not an endorsement of any of the programs, just a resource for people looking to volunteer their time.

The Doula Project of New York City is a non-profit providing support to people across the spectrum of pregnancy. It is volunteer-run and all of its services are free of charge. Since 2008, its 50 trained abortion and birth doulas have provided services to over 5,000 people in the New York City area. I talked with Kathleen, who has been a doula with the Project since 2009 and a member of the Leadership Circle for the past year and a half.

To start-off, could you first describe a little about what an abortion doula is?

An abortion doula provides emotional, physical, and informational support to people choosing abortion. As part of the Doula Project, our doulas also support people facing miscarriage, stillbirth, and fetal anomaly and provide birth doula services to low-income people and to people choosing adoption. All in all, our mission is to offer care and compassion to pregnant people making a variety of choices regarding their pregnancy and/or birth.

What does a day’s work for an abortion doula look like?

Depending on the site, our doulas work with between four and 15 abortion clients per day.  When I work with an abortion client, I try to help her feel safe and at ease. Any medical procedure can be scary, but facing an abortion can be especially frightening for some because of the wealth of inaccurate information and the stigma surrounding the procedure. Before the abortion begins I try to help my client feel comfortable by answering her questions and chatting. I’m usually with her as she meets the doctor and the nursing staff.

Being awake during an abortion is very doable but is sometimes painful. During the procedure I may help her breathe through uncomfortable moments, explain what’s happening, squeeze her hand, stroke her forehead, and distract her with conversation about her favorite TV show or her weekend plans. Afterwards I help her get settled in the recovery room. I may give her a hot pack to place on her abdomen to help with cramps and put cool cloths on her forehead and back of her neck if she’s overheated. Some of my clients want to talk a lot in the recovery room, others are quieter. If my client is settled and seems to be feeling okay, I often sit quietly in a chair close by, ready to engage if and when she chooses.

Read the full interview over at Abortion Gang. And for more about my experiences as an abortion doula, check out my Abortion Doula Diaries series.

Writing for the Florida Independent, Ashley Lopez reports:

A bill that would create uniform and humane rules for the shackling of incarcerated pregnant women passed the state Senate unanimously today.

State Rep. Betty Reed, D-Tampa, and Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, introduced the bill this session to creates rules in county and city jails to protect the health of pregnant women who are incarcerated. Advocates for women’s health have said the law would fill a present gap in jail policies in Florida.

Joyner echoed the feeling expressed by advocates and said today that the bill would “address a deficit in Florida law” by adding rules that require “equal and uniform treatment” of women who are incarcerated.

Lopez told me via twitter that the next step is passage in the House. Great news for Florida, let’s hope it makes it all the way to law.

Update: The bill moved forward in the House today, through its first committee step.

This is a series highlighting folks who identify as Radical Doulas. Are you interested in being part of the series? Email me.

Sarah Koehler is a proud feminist and birth doula. She received her training through Natural Resources in San Francisco, California by a local midwife. She is familiar and deeply interested in meditation and homeopathy as resources for pain relief. Sarah has volunteered at hospitals as a birth doula and offers low-cost services to her community. Sarah’s website is www.homegrownheartsbirth.com.

What inspired you to become a doula?

I became inspired to become a doula when I realized how women are treated in the US’s medical care system. There are so many times when having a gynecological appointment that I wished another person was there to provide me strength, comfort and knowledge. I can now provide that for expected mothers in their most life-changing time.

Why do you identify with the term radical doula?

I identify with the term “radical doula” because I see every doula as doing something radical. Each and every doula is changing the approach to birthing by being present, passionate, and knowledgeable.

What is your doula philosophy and how does it fit into your broader political beliefs?

My doula philosophy is that every birth is spiritual and a celebration. No matter the plans that go astray or the special circumstances that arise, a baby is still coming into this world and that is the joyest of occasions.

What is your favorite thing about being a doula?

My favorite thing about being a doula (aside from just being apart of a beautiful birth!) is helping a person realize their inner strength and that they are capable of birthing.

If you could change one thing about birth, what would it be?

I would change the stigma that birth is a medical event. Birth is natural process that our bodies were built to handle and that it is “pain with a purpose”.

The main takeaway from both, which happens to be my main tactic as an abortion doula, is listen and don’t assume.

Most of the time people looking for support really just want to be heard and to have their feelings validated. They don’t want to be told they should feel differently than they do, or even necessarily helped to cheer up. Think about it next time you are struggling–what do you really need?

Because pregnancy, and especially abortion, are such hot-button political issues, we’ve all got an opinion about it. We’ve all got the latest anti-abortion injustice on our minds.

People are often surprised when I tell them that my work as an abortion doula is mostly about listening, and hand-holding. Not a lot of talking, or educating, or even really doing. A lot of smiling, a lot of encouragement to breath and relax, and a whole lot of listening.

With friends and family members the temptation to give advice is really strong, because we know them and their life and might think that means we know what is best for them. But unless someone is asking us for advice, or asking questions, the best thing we can do is listen and validate how they are feeling. The reality is we don’t know what’s best for anyone other than ourselves.

This is something I’m working hard to apply to my everyday life, but it definitely applies in the context of abortion or miscarriage support.

The only correction I’ll provide to the Jezebel post is to this part:

Baumgardner notes that abortion doulas can offer support to women going through the procedure — you can help her figure out if a doula is right for her, or help her locate one.

While abortion doulas do obviously exist, I know of no programs where individual people can seek out and bring a doula along with them to a clinic. Most of the abortion doula programs partner with clinics directly, so if you went to one of those clinics, you’d most likely encounter a doula there who would accompany you.

What the article references is more like a birth doula situation. It’s possible that abortion doulas will shift to that model some day, but for now it’s primarily clinic partnerships. If there is an abortion doula group in your area (I have a list here, any programs with asterisks) you could get in touch with them to see what clinics they serve, and choose your provider that way.

In New America Media, Valeria Fernandez writes about efforts to revive Mexican midwifery in Arizona:

Marinah Valenzuela Farrell is one of only a few licensed midwives in Arizona. Though it isn’t a profitable venture, helping mothers bring their newborn children into this world is for Farrell a calling deeply rooted in her native Mexican tradition.

“It is really hard to be a midwife,” said the 41-year-old. “You don’t sleep, and you don’t make money. People think you’re crazy because you’re doing homebirths.”

A majority of Farrell’s clients are middle class and white, though as a Latina she aims to make midwifery accessible to low-income women in dire need of prenatal services but too afraid to seek them out in a state virulently hostile to undocumented immigrants.

“I think they don’t know that we exist,” she said. “I think the more the community knows that there’s a midwife who will come and visit them at home and do a homebirth… [attitudes] will change and shift.”

I spoke to the author while she was working on the piece, and a quote of mine is included toward the end.

In The Grio, Chika Oduah writes about black women and home birth. The article includes a video, which is a good primer of the issues at hand with home birth. It also references my Colorlines article about the possible connection between maternal health in communities of color and access to midwifery care.

What is clear from the research about this issue is that women of color are less likely to receive midwifery care, and that disparity is larger than the population numbers would suggest. I think this dynamic is complicated by global sociopolitical historical factors. For example I experienced resistance from Latina immigrant women to midwifery care because of the stigma toward parteras (midwives) in their home countries. In many places in Latin America, midwives and home birth are seen as the option used by women who can’t afford to go to hospital for birth–basically an option only for those who have no other option.

That creates class and race stigma on home birth and midwifery care.

This stigma is no accident. Global socioeconomic policy in Latin America (and I assume elsewhere as well) has long promoted hospital-based childbirth as a marker of development, and encouraged this move with foreign aid dollars and other development initiatives. The medical students I observed in Ecuador were clear that their obstetrical training and guidance came from US practice. So does the push toward hospital-based birth and away from traditional midwifery care.

We cannot ignore the fact that lack of access to emergency obstetrical care and trained birth attendants does lead to increased maternal and infant mortality. But we must also acknowledge what is lost and what new risks emerge when the model is pushed wholly toward medicalized hospital based care. Example: the United States. 98% of births happen in hospitals in the US, but our maternal and infant mortality rates are a serious concern, and lag behind 48 other countries. Clearly simply moving birth from home to hospital does not solve infant or maternal mortality.

I digress a bit, but the ultimate point is this stigma comes with immigrant women, and influences the choices they might make when it comes to maternity care in the US.

With African American folks who might not be recent immigrants, there is another factor at play. Claudia Booker was the first to make this connection for me. When hospital birth first began in the US, and for quite some time after, black women were excluded because of racism and classism. Those barriers to receiving care in the hospital created a similar race and class stigma to that I described from Latin America–meaning that women of color might also see midwifery or home birth as the thing you do when you have no other option. Hospitals are the place that people with wealth and privilege go to give birth. Why would one then choose to opt out?

When we talk about midwifery care (and doula care for that matter) needing to be accessible to communities of color–we’re not just talking about Medicaid reimbursement or even language access. It’s a much more complicated sociopolitical history that must be understood. We have to remember and learn how racism has impacted the way we give birth, the options we have, and understand the ways in which that history affects our choices today.

I often feel like discussions of the need to “educate” certain populations are condescending. It implies that we hold knowledge that the other group does not–that we know better than they do what is best for them. Really I think this kind of accessibility will be gained by listening, rather than teaching or educating. By asking the people we seek to reach what keeps them from working with us, what shapes their decisions, and then adjusting our practice accordingly.

In reality, and this is what these articles get at, what will really change the number of people of color using midwifery–it will be midwives of color. Often those from the community themselves are the best advocates and have the cultural competency necessary to serve the community effectively.

Update: Native communities and their history was very absent from this post. In that vein I’m adding a link to this guest post, Why doulas are important in Native American Communities, from Raeanne Madison, which provides some context.

I’m excited for 2012, during which I’ll hit my fifth anniversary of running this blog. I’ve got a bunch of exciting projects in the works to celebrate that milestone, so stay tuned!

In an effort to focus on the wins of the past year, rather than the many struggles and disappointments, here is a quick run down of things to celebrate from 2011:

This is a recent one from NAPW that I didn’t get a chance to blog, but in partnership with organizations working in the Native community, they recently were able to get a tribal court to drop charges against a pregnant woman whose child died shortly after birth.

Midwife Robin Lim wins an amazing award from CNN in honor of her work with pregnant women in Bali.

ACOG puts out a statement in support of treating trans patients with care and sensitivity.

The personhood amendment fails in Mississippi.

A new abortion doula project in SF!

The word doula gets entered into the Oxford English Dictionary.

Vermont mandates insurance coverage for licensed midwives.

Midwives in Colorado get a better law allowing them to improve their care.

And of course, last but not least, all of the incredible radical doulas featured here.

Here’s to even more successes in 2012!

I know I’m biased, since I’ve been involved since the beginning, but I think the Doula Project is really rad.

First of all, it’s mission is pretty amazing: provide volunteer doula care to people across the spectrum of pregnancy: from abortions and miscarriages to adoptions and births. All of it is done at no cost to the pregnant person–it’s a volunteer operation that is now a 501-C3 (hence the fundraiser!).

I’ve chronicled some of my experiences working with the project in my Abortion Doula Diaries series. In short I think it’s pretty rad, and has helped spark a national movement of similar organizations around the country providing this type of comprehensive doula support.

Some official language from the project:

We are a volunteer led and run non-profit organization offering free doula care to women across the full spectrum of pregnancy options. The Doula Project works to connect the choices, needs, and experiences of people across this spectrum and to provide on-site support for our clients no matter what their choices may be. Since 2008, our 50 trained abortion and birth doulas have provided physical, emotional, and informational support to more than 5,000 women in New York City who have faced birth, abortion, miscarriage, stillbirth induction, and adoption.

5,000 people! That’s incredible.

If you’re feeling generous, your support would be appreciated. Funds will go to expanding services to serve more people, as well as further training and expansion of this really amazing model. Donate here.

I hadn’t followed this competition, but was excited to learn that the winner of this award, which comes with $300,000 for her cause.

About Robin:

Robin Lim, an American woman who has helped thousands of poor Indonesian women have a healthy pregnancy and birth, was named the 2011 CNN Hero of the Year on Sunday night.

Through her Yayasan Bumi Sehat health clinics, “Mother Robin,” or “Ibu Robin” as she is called by the locals, offers free prenatal care, birthing services and medical aid in Indonesia, where many families cannot afford care.

After reading about Robin and her work, I realized that her clinic sounded familiar. They are listed on my Volunteer Doula Program page! A friend of the clinics posted in comments a few years ago about their work, suggesting I add them to my list.

So glad to see their impact is being honored, and on such a mainstream platform. It’s also lovely to see a birth activist and woman of color honored for her work.

Learn more about her clinic here. They even have a birth doula workshop for interested doulas in Indonesia!

About Exhale:

Exhale creates a social climate where each person’s unique experience with abortion is supported, respected, and free from stigma. Exhale provides services, training, and education to empower individuals, families, and communities to achieve post-abortion health and wellbeing.

In the article I talk about how I became a doula, how I made the connection to abortion work and why I started this blog.

My job as an activist – whether for abortion, reproductive justice or birth, is to make sure people have as many options as possible, and my job as a doula is to make sure they get the emotional support they need along the way. It was time to bring these two passions of mine together in a way that could improve the lives of pregnant women. I started a blog and started calling myself a radical doula.

I also interviewed a few doulas who have been involved with Exhale’s work.

There are a lot of assumptions about the personal experience of abortion, but what an abortion doula will tell you, though, is that no two people’s experiences are alike. Emotional responses vary widely. Laura shared,

“Being pregnant is significant, however a person a politically identifies or however she acknowledges the process. We’re not trying to be behind the politics of it. Her voice, her experience gets validated on her terms.”

Read the rest of the article here.