Radical Doula Profiles: gracie janove

November 30, 2011

gracie on a beach wearing purpleThis is a series highlighting folks who identify as Radical Doulas. Are you interested in being part of the series? Email me.

About gracie:

gracie janove is an acupressurist, photographer, writer, sociologist, pro-choice feminist and radical doula. She is proud to offer doula support for all pregnancy options including birth, abortion and adoption as well as care for all families and pregnant people. She recently helped organize the Bay Area Radical Reproductive Workers Alliance. Aside from birth work, she is dedicated to empowering youth through teaching media literacy. She currently resides in the SF Bay Area. Contact her at BirthBeautifullMoments@gmail.com.

Why do you identify with the term radical doula?

I work with individuals (and families), yet I am committed to creating lasting systemic change in the reproductive health world. I envision a society where all people have all the health care and support they need, and where they don’t need money to get it. This means safe abortion access, midwifery services, any other form of health care. Currently, women in prison, homeless women, queer women and trans people are especially marginalized groups that need access to these services. I’m working towards a world where informed consent and empowered choice are the norm.

What is your doula philosophy and how does it fit into your broader political beliefs?
“In white supremacist capitalist patriarchal Western culture neocolonial thinking sets the tone for many cultural practices.” -bell hooks

I want to inhabit a world where the choices that impact the communities in which we live are made collectively and democratically. People deserve agency over if they want to, when they want to, and how they want to give birth. I provide unconditional support for pregnant persons and every choice they make, because I believe they know best. So many parts of our culture work against women, and as a doula I am there to bestow compassion and support to all involved. One way the culture misguides us is through the use of mainstream media, an inescapable force that is great at playing on our emotions. I’m interested in examining the media’s role in forming people’s lived experiences of childbirth. Someday, I’d like to launch a media campaign with other reproductive justice workers to help reconstruct the way people perceive and experience birth.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Anti-shackling policy and organizing training this weekend in Amherst, MA

November 29, 2011

Just saw notice about this training happening this weekend in Amherst Massachussetts. Sounds incredible, definitely worth going to if you’re in the area and care about stopping the practice of shackling incarcerated pregnant women.

Join The Prison Birth Project, The Peace Development Fund & WORTH for A Training on Anti-Shackling Policy and Organizing

A day long training to start to mobilize an on the ground movement to support current Anti-shackling legislation. Learn about legislation that PBP is working on, the current political climate and how to organize from a grassroots to a statewide level from organizers who have passed this legislation in other states. Help strategize and build the campaign to pass legislation that supports women everywhere.

Trainers will include: Tina Reynolds from Women on the Rise Telling Her Story (WORTH) who have worked/passed Antishackling in other states. Members of The Prison Birth Project as well as members of the ACLU and a local lobbyists.

Saturday December 3, 2011
10am-3:30pm
Peace Development Fund
44 N. Prospect St. Amherst

RSVP to: volunteer@theprisonbirthproject.org with RSVP as the subject.

Childcare provided with RSVP please let us know in the email how many children and ages.

They also provided this additional information about their efforts:

More than 8,000 women are incarcerated each year in Mass. 85% of those women are mothers and about 6% of them are pregnant during their incarceration.

The Prison Birth Project provides support education and advocacy with women and girls at this intersection of incarceration and motherhood. This year our members had a say in the writing of HB 2234 “An Act Relative to Safe Pregnancies and Relate Health Care for Female Inmates”. This bill has been introduced in an effort to provide minimum standards of care for women while incarcerated. It would ensure that pregnant women would not be restrained during labor and pregnancy and receive basic prenatal care and family planning information. Can’t make it? but want to be a part of the coalition to pass this legislation? Email volunteer@theprisonbirthproject.org and let us know!

For more about the anti-shackling efforts in MA, check out my recent article for Colorlines.

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Posted by radicaldoula

Update: Mississippi Personhood initiative fails

November 7, 2011

Update: It failed! Big victory for health and autonomy. Also proof that even those with more moderate or conservative politics are skeptical of such far reaching legislation. The fight is far from over though, as these efforts are bound to continue.

It’s a scary time for women’s health and autonomy. The political movement to limit access to abortion, as well as pregnant people’s rights to make decisions about their bodies and medical choices, is stronger than ever.

In the absence of any strategies to address the actual problems plaguing our economy (unemployment, for example) the ultra right wing in control of many of our state governments (and the House of Reps too) have decided to focus instead on debilitating budget cuts and bills that damage women and pregnant people’s health and human rights.

As I’ve said over and over on this blog–bills that limit access to abortion also limit the choices of pregnant people who want to parent. NAPW has a video explaining exactly what is at stake with Prop 26:

Irin Carmon, reporting for Salon, wrote about how this initiative would limit access to even birth control. These efforts are serious, and want to turn back the clock on reproductive health almost fifty years. All of these extreme efforts are poised to take judicial challenges all the way to the Supreme Court.

The vote on the initiative could go either way, which is even more frightening. Polling shows voters split evenly.

If you’re in Mississippi, please make it out to the polls tomorrow and vote NO on 26. This is serious.

2 Comments | abortion, activism, birth | Permalink
Posted by radicaldoula

Women’s Media Center Social Media Award

October 18, 2011

The Women’s Media Center has a new award this year, for an outstanding woman in social media. I’m not sure how the nomination list was created, but I’m on it!

It’s an honor to be showcased next to so many amazing women who are working online to change the world. Seriously, if nothing else, it’s an incredible list of women in feminist media.

If you’re so inclined, you can also vote for one of the nominees, who will be given the award at the end of November.

Leave a Comment » | Blogosphere | Permalink
Posted by radicaldoula

Chicago Doula Circle recruiting volunteers for new hospital-based abortion doula program

October 12, 2011

Another great full spectrum doula group to add to the growing national movement!

From the Chicago Doula Circle email announcement:

Dear Friends,

We are excited to announce that the Chicago Doula Circle is currently recruiting volunteers for our new hospital-based abortion doula program! We are looking for a diverse group of volunteers to provide direct-service support to people during their abortions here in Chicago. Volunteers are asked to commit to a two-day weekend training as well as two shifts per month and one monthly volunteer support meeting. For more information about our organization, abortion doulas, and to view the volunteer application, please visit chicagodoulacircle.com. A direct link to the volunteer application can be found at http://bit.ly/chicagoabortiondoula. To be considered for the 2011 training, all applications are due no later than October 31, 2011.Please spread the word! Thank you for supporting Chicago Doula Circle.

With excitement & gratitude,
Kate Palmer & Kristen Ethier, Co-Founders/Co-Directors

My running list of volunteer doula programs is here.

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Posted by radicaldoula

Happy Coming Out Day!

October 11, 2011

Today is National Coming Out Day. While the holiday doesn’t get a ton of attention, it’s an important reminder that visibility is a large part of acceptance. It’s well documented that those who know someone who is LGBT are more likely to support the fight for LGBT rights.

I’m working with a group called Basic Rights Oregon to spread the word about their new video series highlighting the experiences of LGBT people of color. As a Latina, I was excited to see this bilingual video included in the series:

There is also a video about the Asian Pacific Islander community and the African-American community.

Leave a Comment » | gender, sexuality | Permalink
Posted by radicaldoula

California Governor vetoes bill limiting use of restraints on pregnant incarcerated women

October 10, 2011

California Governor Brown vetoed a bill yesterday that would have limited the use of restraints on pregnant incarcerated women during transport. A ban on using restraints during labor already exists. The bill passed the legislature with overwhelming support, and likely received a veto because the California State Sheriff’s Association decided to push heavily against the bill.

From the Governor’s veto message:

At first blush, I was inclined to sign this bill because it certainly seems inapprpriate to shackle a pregnant inmate unless absolutely necessary. Hovwever, the language of this measure goes too far, prhohibiting no only hsackling, but also the use of handcuffs or restraints of any kind except under ill-defined circumstances.

Let’s be clear. Inmates, whether pregnant or not, need to be transported in a manner that is safe for them and others. The restrictive criteria set forth in this bill go beyond what is necessary to protect the health and dignity or pregnant inmates and will only serve to sow confusion and invite lawsuits.

This is really disappointing news, and further proof that the health and safety of pregnant incarcerated women is not a priority. The fact that he attempted to say that the use of handcuffs or restraints could actually be needed to “be transported in a manner that is safe for them” is appalling.

In my article for Colorlines last week, I talked to Marianne Bullock, a prison doula and co-founder of the Prison Birth Project. She had this to say about the danger of restraints during transport:

Marianne Bullock, cofounder of the Massachusetts-based Prison Birth Project, offers an anecdote from across the country illustrating why shackling during transport is an acute problem. As a doula who has been working within a Springfield prison for the last four years, Bullock and the other members of the Prison Birth Project see exactly how incarcerated pregnant women are treated. Even though their facility doesn’t shackle women during childbirth, shackles are still used during transport, especially postpartum. Bullock recounts one woman that she supported during labor who ended up with a full episiotomy (an incision to widen the vaginal opening) to deal with her baby’s shoulder dystocia.

“Twenty-four hours later she was shackled foot-to-foot and walked out of the hospital,” she remembered. “It’s so dangerous to have a woman walking shackled, with who knows how many stitches.”

Congrats to everyone in California for such an impressive push getting this bill through, and here is to hoping that it gets through next time.

1 Comment | birth, Shackling | Permalink
Posted by radicaldoula

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.

Leave a Comment » | activism, birth, Incarceration, Shackling | Permalink
Posted by radicaldoula

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!

Leave a Comment » | abortion, activism, doulas | Permalink
Posted by radicaldoula

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