activism

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

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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.

New San Francisco Bay Area Doula Project launches

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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!

Speaking: NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon Choice Gala

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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!

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Help us shape a radical and full spectrum doula gathering!

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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.

Erykah Badu is planning on becoming a midwife

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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

Birth(ing) Justice

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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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The NYC Doula Project is recruiting!

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The Doula Project, based in New York City, is recruiting it’s next round of doulas.

I helped to found The Doula Project a few years back alongside Mary Mahoney and Lauren Mitchell. I left NYC before the project really got going and came back to it just this fall. It’s an absolutely amazing crew of folks working to provide doula care to people across the spectrum of pregnancy. I work, through the project, providing support to women having abortions in a public hospital.

I cannot say enough good things about this project!

If you are in NYC you should definitely apply.

I am not part of the application vetting process, but know that you don’t need to have previous doula experience to apply. Folks are trained to do the abortion doula work by the project itself. Birth doula training is only necessary if you want to do the birth components of the project, but it’s not a requirement.

Full details and application here.

Midwifery under attack in North Carolina and other big birth news

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There has been a lot going on these past few weeks in the birth world that I have been watching, but not had the chance to blog about. Here are a few of the highlights and things you can do to be involved with promoting access to midwifery nationwide.

North Carolina:

A midwife in North Carolina (my home state!) was arrested in February. Via Birth and Bloom and North Carolina Friends of Midwives:

On February 19, a Certified Professional Midwife who would be licensed and regulated in neighboring states was arrested for performing the duties for which she is trained. Charged with practicing midwifery without a license, her practice is in jeopardy. Should it close, dozens of pregnant women will face a crisis of care. “Our focus is on the mothers,” says a fellow Certified Professional Midwife. “This is an unfortunate day for mothers in North Carolina.” It is also an unfortunate day for the taxpayers of North Carolina, as they face the potential for a huge bill as the case winds its way through the criminal courts.

At the root of this case is the struggle to further legalize and license Certified Professional Midwives across the country. I’ve written about this struggle before, and how the opposition to the practice of CPMs (who are trained, although not as nurses, to practice primarily home birth) is mostly a fight about who gets to provide birth care. While those in opposition tout all sorts of research about why they think home birth is unsafe, what’s really at stake is the desire for doctors and the American Medical Association to keep tight their monopoly on birth care.

Twenty six states have successfully fought the medical lobby to legalize the practice of CPMs, a hugely important step toward expanding access to a wide variety of birth care both in and out of the hospital. North Carolina is not one of them, which is why this midwife was subjected to arrest and possibly prosecution.

For more information about the situation in North Carolina and how to get involved, go here. There is also a petition you can sign here.

CPM legislation introduced in Congress:

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, a Democrat from Maine has introduced legislation into the House of Representatives that would allow women in Medicaid access to coverage for CPM birth care. The bill, Access to Certified Professional Midwives Act of 2011, and has two other co-sponsors.

While the battle to get this kind of legislation through Congress will be a serious one (that’s going to take years of advocacy) it’s a really important first step. I’m also glad to see that the focus of the legislation is access to midwifery care for low-income women. I have a feeling this would also impact the ability of CPMs to practice even in states where it isn’t specifically allowed, but I need to corroborate that. If you know more, leave details in comments!

 

Why birth activists should care about anti-abortion laws

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The reproductive rights community has been in an uproar about recent attempts at restricting abortion nationally. It seems to be priority number one for the GOP nationally–despite the fact that these types of laws are symbolic nods to the Christian Right at best, and horrific violations of pregnant women’s bodily autonomy at worst.

All of the typical players are up in arms at the new legislative attempts, which are covered pretty extensively here.

But I realize that folks who read this blog may think that the reason I care about this legislation is because I work with women having abortions. What we often don’t talk about is how legislation that attempts to restrict abortion by emphasizing the “rights” of the fetus (or, as Lynn Paltrow want us to call it, fetal separatism) have big impacts on the rights of pregnant women who actually carry their pregnancies to term.

That’s right: anti-choice laws don’t just impact women seeking abortions, they impact birthing women as well.

How so?

Here is a post I wrote for Feministing about the proposed South Dakota law that would possibly allow for the murder of abortion providers (which has now been shelved):

From Mother Jones:

A law under consideration in South Dakota would expand the definition of “justifiable homicide” to include killings that are intended to prevent harm to a fetus—a move that could make it legal to kill doctors who perform abortions. The Republican-backed legislation, House Bill 1171, has passed out of committee on a nine-to-three party-line vote, and is expected to face a floor vote in the state’s GOP-dominated House of Representatives soon.

It’s clear this bill likely has the goal of inciting violence–murder–of abortion providers. But I think this logic can actually be taken a step further, to include the murder of a pregnant woman herself.

Often one connection between anti-choice legislation that isn’t talked about is how it affects the rights of pregnant women who do want to parent. I’m talking about the rights of pregnant women to decide what kind of medical treatment they will seek–and not necessarily abortion.

There is an incredible battle going on around the country about the rights of pregnant women to refuse certain types of medical care (as the rest of us are legally entitled to do). In numerous cases, women have been forced against their will to have c-sections or other medical procedures in the name of the protecting the fetus.

This proposed legislation takes that logic to it’s extreme–not only is it okay to super-cede the autonomy and rights of pregnant women in the name of the fetus–you could actually justifiably murder her in pursuit of this as well. In addition, of course, to doctors performing perfectly legal and constitutionally protected abortions.

Can we agree to stop calling them pro-life now?

The laws that interfere with a woman’s ability to make decisions about terminating her pregnancy also interfere with a woman’s ability to make decisions about what medical care to seek for her birth.

These laws allow providers and lawmakers to force women into c-sections they don’t want, force them into mandatory bed rest, all sorts of other interventions, in the name of protecting the fetus.

This isn’t hypothetical folks. It’s happening around the country.

As birth activists, we know that often the medical claims behind these kinds of decisions to force women into c-sections are bogus. They’re based on shaky science and a medicine that disregards the desires of a pregnant women.

It’s not just pro-choice advocates who need lawmakers out of our wombs. It’s parenting moms too, who want to be trusted to make the medical decisions that are best for them–without fear of state or court intervention.

These battles cannot be seen as distinct. If women aren’t trusted and allowed to make decisions about their medical care for abortions, they won’t be trusted to make decisions about their medical care for pregnancy and birth either.

This is why we need movements where we work together, across issues and across communities. We’re fighting the same fights, with common enemies and common goals.

Let’s work together.

Anti-Abortion Bills Surging Through Capitol Hill—and States, Too

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Protestor holding sign that reads "Boehner defund Planned Parenthood"
via Colorlines

After spending yesterday morning supporting a woman during her abortion, I spent the afternoon editing this piece for Colorlines:

It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that the House GOP leadership has come out strong with an anti-abortion agenda only weeks into the 112th Congress. A November meeting foreshadowed the fate of reproductive rights under the House’s new leadership: Randall Terry, an anti-abortion extremist whose work incites violence and has been called “domestic terrorism,” met with soon-to-be Speaker John Boehner’s chief of staff. In the anti-abortion world, it doesn’t get more extreme than Randall Terry.

What’s striking, and drawing less attention, is that the invigorated attack on women’s health on Capitol Hill is just the beginning. The November elections also swept in a wave of anti-choice state governments, where the fight against reproductive rights has become increasingly defined by race baiting meant to divide the pro-choice community.

I felt the contradiction and distance between the experience of women actually having abortions and the hate, lies and rhetoric of the anti-choice movement. One thing is frighteningly clear: these anti-choice folks don’t care about women. In fact, they want to punish women, make their lives more difficult, keep them from maintaining personal and bodily autonomy.

The experiences of actual women don’t even factor into these debates–they are replaced by moral showboating, empty rhetoric and misinformation.

If it wasn’t for the policies of New York State, which goes against national trends and provides access to abortion for all women, regardless of ability to pay, I wouldn’t be able to do my work as an abortion doula. Most of the women I work with at the public hospital are uninsured, most are women of color. Many are immigrants. The Hyde Amendment says they shouldn’t be able to get the procedures they want and need.

Thank you New York State for valuing the lives and choices of these women.

The sad reality is many states (including our federal House of Representatives) is going in the opposite direction.

Read more about that in my Colorlines article.