Radical Doula Profiles: Alese Colehour

October 6, 2011

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

Photo of Alese, outside, smiling

Alese Colehour a graduate student of biological anthropology at University of Oregon in Eugene. She works with reproductive health of the Shuar communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon. You can check out her website here.

Why do you identify with the term radical doula?

Dar a luz, meaning to give light, is the Spanish phrase meaning childbirth. Through childbearing and rearing, a woman brings forth new light to our world not only through the life of a child, but through her own life as a new mother. I am a strong believer in the rise of the feminine and I believe the way the majority of modern hospitals treat laboring women is an alarming breach of basic human rights. It is a symptom of a systemic problem that despite impressive efforts from female rights advocates continues to infiltrate many aspect of our society. Serving as labor support is my way of advocating for a change. I have a profound respect for the emotional and physical changes a woman goes through during pregnancy and labor (such an incredible thing the human body can do!) and being present to witness and cherish each moment is an incredibly powerful experience. I am very grateful for each woman and family for giving me the honor to attend such a sacred ceremony. Through my compassion and commitment to continuous support, I hope I can inspire hospital staff, new families, and my own personal community to look at childbirth practice in a new light.

What is your favorite thing about being a doula?

I love being able to love so openly and freely. I love learning so much from each of the women I serve. I love meeting other doulas, they are all so warm and wonderful and womanly!

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

First impressions are extremely important, and that includes the first few moments after a baby is born. I believe those first impressions of the world are extremely influential later in the life of the child and even as an adult. Imagine the difference between strangers in latex gloves and a steel table versus a loving human hand and a warm chest!

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Lawyer to shackle herself during childbirth to protest shackling of incarcerated women

October 4, 2011

In my latest article for Colorlines Magazine, I write about the efforts to prevent prisons and jails (and detention centers) from shackling incarcerated pregnant women. What inspired me to write about this issue, which has been covered pretty extensively by the progressive media in the past, were Rebecca Brodie’s plans to shackle herself during her own birth as a protest of the practice. From the article:

Rebecca Brodie sits in her suburban Massachusetts home, talking on the phone with me while her family member sits nearby, filming the interview. The oldest female correctional facility in the United States, MCI-Framingham, is just a short eight-minute drive away. “When I conceived my third child earlier this year, it really hit home for me because everywhere I go I pass the prison,” Brodie explained. “I have all these choices and opportunities: who do I want in the room with me, do I want a water birth, or a home birth? Obviously the incarcerated women can’t make these choices.”

The proximity of the women’s prison and Brodie’s pro-bono legal work with incarcerated women is what inspired the protest she’s planning for December, when her third child is born. If all goes according to plan, she’ll be laboring and delivering her baby in metal restraints that restrict her arms and legs. She’s planning to simulate the same conditions that many incarcerated pregnant women face when delivering in state prisons and jails, including some of the women housed at the prison right by her home.

I’m still not sure what I think about Brodie’s plans. It’s an extreme form of protest, one that involves much spectacle (and a documentary to boot). But what it was clear everyone I talked to cares about the most is bringing attention to this horrific practice in hopes of ending it.

Only 14 states specifically ban the practice, and even those states don’t necessarily ban the use of shackles during transport. Governor Brown in California has a bill waiting on his desk for signature that would ban the practice during transport as well. The more work I do in the field of social justice the more I believe that the practices of our criminal justice system are some of the most dire issues we face today. We incarcerate more people than any other country in the world, and the treatment of people on the inside brings up many, many human rights questions.

I’m glad I was able to talk to one of the founders of volunteer doula program that I seriously admire, Marianne Bullock from the Prison Birth Project, for this article. Marianne and the other PBP folks work at a prison in Massachusetts, trying to address the myriad challenges moms on the inside face, including shackling.

Read the full article here.

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New San Francisco Bay Area Doula Project launches

September 20, 2011

It’s about time the Bay Area had a full spectrum doula project! I was very excited to get the notice in my inbox yesterday that the Bay Area now has a doula project. I had heard rumors that it was in the works.

Details:

Founded in 2011, the Bay Area Doula Project is the first doula project offering ‘full-spectrum’ doula care in Northern California.  We are an emerging group of doulas in the Bay Area who are committed to supporting pregnant women who are choosing abortion, and other pregnancy outcomes.  Most of us are birth doulas, many of us are postpartum doulas as well.  All of us are abortion doulas.  We trust women to make their own decisions regarding their pregnancies, and offer unconditional support to women in need.

All the info about their project is on their website, including an application for doulas who want to join.

Congrats to the BADP!

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Speaking: NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon Choice Gala

September 19, 2011

Invitation to NARAL Gala on October 1st

The speaking season is upon us once again! While I love getting to stay put (and getting things done) for long stretches of the summer, I also really love getting to travel around the country and connect with activists and students doing similar work. It’s an incredible learning experience for me, every time.

I’ve got two events coming up in the next few weeks. I’m still booking events for the Fall and Spring, so if you’re interested in bringing me to your campus or community, please be in touch! More detail about my past speaking is available here. I’m also going to part of the third annual Feministing College Tour, and we’re also booking events for that. Details here.

On September 28th and 29th I’ll be speaking at Kenyon College’s Take Back the Night week. I’ll be talking about sexual violence and social justice–basically why we can’t combat sexual violence without a social justice framework.

Then on October 1st I’m heading to Portland to be the keynote speaker at NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon’s Choice Gala. I’m super honored to be speaking along side the Oregon Secretary of State and the Attorney General. I’m most excited for that event because I’ll be talking about the work of Radical Doula, the work I discuss here, specifically my work as an abortion doula. I haven’t had the opportunity to speak much about that work and am really looking forward to it.

Since the NARAL event is a fundraiser, tickets are $125. But they are offering a special activist price! Details about the activist price: “Email Caitlin at caitlin@prochoiceoregon.org to learn more about how to attend the Gala at a deeply discounted activist price, or even for free! Activist tickets are limited – first come first served!”

NARAL sent an interview with me out on their listserve, and an excerpt of it is after the jump. I hope to see some of you there!

Read the rest of this entry »

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Help us shape a radical and full spectrum doula gathering!

September 12, 2011

I’m really excited to share that I’m involved with a group of doulas who are trying to organize a radical and full spectrum doula gathering! This was born out of conversations with other doulas around the country who have been working to provide full spectrum doula support, and the realization that we could get a lot out of connecting with each other in real

Just three years ago, the idea of an “abortion doula” felt totally new and novel. Now we’re at a place where there is a true movement behind doulas who are providing this kind of support. It’s incredible.

From starting this blog almost four years ago because I felt alone in my work as a doula with my politics, to feeling the need to bring together all the amazing people involved in this work! It’s been an incredible journey.

The organizing of this gathering, meet-up of sorts, is still in its infancy. What we do know is that we want to bring together the folks who are doing this work, so that we can share strategies, struggles and build relationships with one another.

What we don’t know is how, when, where, what and why.

That’s where you come in! We’d love it if you’d take a few minutes to fill out this survey to let us know what you might like to see at a gathering like this.

Thanks in advance for your support, and I look forward to meeting many of you at the gathering.

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Erykah Badu is planning on becoming a midwife

September 6, 2011

Erykah Badu wearing a tall white hatI used to write a lot more about celebrities and birth (hello Caroline in the City post from 2007!) but have since gotten sidetracked with other things.

But this was too good not to post! Erykah Badu, who has been a doula for years, is now training to become a midwife.

This is was the best part:

Badu, who provides all of her services for free, has since become a spokeswoman for the International Center for Traditional Childbearing and she is now aiming to get her professional certification so she can open birthing centres in inner cities in the future.

She reveals patients call her “Erykah Badoula” and insists “nothing gives me more pleasure” than assisting in anaesthesia-free births.

Erykah Badoula! Love it.

Via Toronto Sun

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Radical Doula Profiles: Kelly Gray

August 24, 2011

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

About Kelly: Kelly on a blanket with a baby

Kelly, C.M.T., CD (DONA), is a massage therapist, a certified birth doula, and Co-Founder of the new Bay Area Doula Project which trains and coordinates abortion doulas to work with women through all of their pregnancy outcomes. Kelly spent years as a community and labor organizer in hospitals working towards health justice and is acutely aware of the challenges that women face seeking dignified health care in the US. As a full spectrum doula, Kelly aims to aide women to empower themselves through education, resources, and continuous, non-judgmental emotional support. When Kelly is not helping women take charge of their reproductive choices, she is Mama to a fiery daughter and enjoys teaching her how to harness her innate powers. Her website is www.ninemoonsdoula.com and the Bay Area Doula Project website is here.

What made you become a doula?

It wasn’t until after giving birth to my daughter that I truly began to appreciate and explore the value of birth pain/intensity and decided I wanted to help women understand the usefulness of these feelings. Before becoming a doula I was a labor organizer for healthcare professionals. In the context of worker’s motivation to collectively bargain I understood that a work force would have to experience great lows (aka, great pain) before they were willing to mobilize for a more equitable workplace. Looking at the birth experience of most women, not only did I begin to see birth pain as a guide towards personal transformation, but I also started to examine birth as a leaping off point for organizing against the brutalities committed towards women by the medical establishment. I love the intimacy of the work. It is an honor to step into women’s lives and witness their exploration of the most private and primal instincts, urges, fears and victories that arise when one is facing abortion, miscarriage, birth, and postpartum life. At the first birth I attended I witnessed a teen-mom deliver her baby while standing up, moaning and quaking and beautiful, and her partner caught the baby (with the assistance of the midwife). I saw that birth experience instantly empower the family and I knew I was hooked.

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Guest post: Why doulas are important in Native American communities

August 18, 2011
This is a guest post from Raeanne Madison, who was profiled a few weeks ago in the Radical Doula profile series. This post was originally published on her blog. Her perspective, and the perspectives of other Native American and Indigenous folks, is crucial in this fight for reproductive justice. I’m inspired by her words and her spirit, and honored to be able to feature them here.
Ondaadiziike. The Ojibwe phrase for giving birth. When I was writing this article, I was hoping to combine ondaadiziike with the Ojibwe words for safety and comfort. I was surprised that the dictionaries I consulted didn’t include these words. So I was left with just ondaadiziike. No safety, no comfort to accompany it. This is reflective of modern birth culture in Native American communities, I think. Women (and girls) are giving birth without the accompaniment of safety and comfort. Modern day pre, ante, and post natal care for brown women in the United States is at times unsafe, and usually uncomfortable. Racism, sexism, poverty, and isolation have left women and their babies in desperate need for support, love, and compassion.

It wasn’t always this way. Native women were long respected as life givers. Our ancestors had mysterious, spirited reproductive powers. Women were forbidden to enter the dance arena during their moon time (a practice still respected in modern Powwow culture); not because they were viewed as dirty or hysterical, but because these women were so powerful during this time in the life cycle that they could take away power from anyone in the circle. So they stayed out in respect to their community members. Women took care of each other, Aunties, Grannies, Mothers, and Sisters. But women were also independent, knowledgeable, and assertive in their bodily rights. Reproductive culture varied from tribe to tribe but one thing was constant: women’s powers were sacred.

Enter Western patriarchy. Native women were subjected to horrors manifested in all aspects of bodily harm. Our ancestors were kidnapped, gang raped, and fed to war dogs. Eaten for entertainment in circus like manner. Forced to marry white men and birth babies alone, without the help of their beloved Sisters. Traditional knowledge of menstruation, pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding were lost, and Native women today still pay the price. Of all the ethnicities in the US, Native women suffer the most when it comes to birth. We have some of the highest teenage pregnancy rates, pre-term birth rates, maternal and neonatal morbidity rates, and some of the lowest breastfeeding rates. Reproduction in our community has become dangerous and unpredictable at worst, and casual at best as women forget just how powerful their bodies can be. Studies have proved that these racial disparities exist because of poverty and racism.

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Radical Doula Profiles: Leila Zainab Counihan

August 16, 2011

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

Leila, with long hair, smilingLeila Zainab Counihan is a pro-choice feminist, birth doula of color. She recently traveled to La Ceiba, Honduras to work as a birth doula in a public hospital. She is the Director of the Freedom Doula Project, a full spectrum pregnancy doula organization serving Boston, MA. Currently, she is an undergraduate at Clark University in Worcester, MA. Leila spends most of her free time collaging, meditating and honoring her Yoni. You can contact her or Freedom Doula Project at leila@freedomdoulas. Check out Freedom Doula Project on Facebook or at www.FreedomDoulas.org!

What inspired you to become a doula?

I was 18 when I was inspired to be a doula after reading “Half the Sky” by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. I read stories of women all over the world experiencing terrible sexual and reproductive injustices just because they became pregnant. This jump-started my obsession with reproductive justice and international public health. I knew I wanted to have a career as an advocate for women’s reproductive health, but I wanted hands-on experience as well. Becoming a birth doula was the perfect fit.

Why do you identify with the term radical doula?

When I became a birth doula, I quickly found that I was the only pro-choice, feminist doula of color in my circle, and in many other circles as well. I found that there were disconnects between these identities on many levels. First, the lack of diversity within the birthing community was staggering. I was surrounded by upper-middle class, white women. As a lower middle class, South Asian, immigrant woman, I felt utterly alone. Secondly, I naively assumed that because we were all for the freedom and movement of women, we would all be pro-choice. I soon learned that the topic of pro-choice was almost as taboo as it is anywhere else. In many ways, I am a radical because I chose not to leave my identities behind. Instead, I represent them with pride.

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Birth(ing) Justice

August 11, 2011

At the most recent Sistersong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective conference in Miami, I heard a number of midwives and doulas talking about birth(ing) justice. A few people called it birth justice, others called it birthing justice.

The articulations of what this term means vary from person to person, but I understand it as a way to frame our work for a better culture of birth and reproduction within an intersectional politics.

I’m really excited about the people behind these movements. Similar to the history of reproductive justice, it seems birth(ing) justice is being pushed and developed by women of color in the birth activist community. Three groups that I connected with in Miami connected to this birth(ing) justice work: Mobile Midwife in Miami, Florida, Black Women Birthing Justice in Oakland, California and Black Women Birthing Resistance in Atlanta, Georgia.

All three have different focuses, different projects, different collaborators–but seem to share a vision for centering birth work in the context of social justice, while centering the experiences of marginalized populations.

I am beyond overjoyed to see such energy around birth activism, in particular by and for women of color. Also to see birth activism articulated within a much broader political framework is exactly why I started Radical Doula over four years ago–because I felt alone in my politics and passion for changing the culture of birth.

I am so glad to be able to say that I am no longer alone.

More information after the jump about each group.

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