Making the radical a reality

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There is a great article up at RH Reality Check, written by Mary Mahoney, one of the founders of The Doula Project. I’ve written about the NYC-based Doula Project before, and am honored to have been one of the founders.

All the credit for what the project has become goes to co-founders Mary and Lauren, who took some very early stage ideas about providing doula care to folks having abortions and turned it into this amazing project which supports people throughout all stages of reproductive life, including abortion, fetal anomalies, miscarriages, adoption and birth.

I think this project takes doula care to its natural end–we’re there to support pregnant folks, through any and all decisions.

The Doula Project has served over 500 pregnant people since the fall of 2008, guided by the mission of providing free compassionate care and emotional, physical and informational support to people facing birth, abortion, fetal anomaly, or miscarriage. The foundation of our project is built on meeting pregnant people where they are, something I’ve taken with me from working four years in the reproductive justice movement. This connects to our belief that pregnant people should be trusted to make the choices that are best for them and that their experiences and the memories of those experiences should be honored.

Doulas hold a unique position in health care as non-medical lay people who are there solely for the pregnant person. The birth doula movement has certainly grown over the past few years, and innovative and radical projects have expanded care for pregnant people who might otherwise not receive it, such as young mothers and women in prison. During this time, The Doula Project has been building on a new model of doula care: one that supports pregnant people having abortions and choosing adoption.

Read the whole article here and check out the Doula Project here.

UPDATE: There is another great article about the Doula Project in the Brooklyn Link.

Despite ban, shackling of incarcerated women continues in Pennsylvania

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More news on the shackling front. The good news is that this horrific practice is finally getting some much needed media attention. The bad news is that it still happens, despite policy changes that are meant to eradicate the practice.

Philadelphia Weekly has an in-depth article about one woman’s experience being shackled during labor for over 17 hours. She even has scars on her ankles to prove it.

I was happy to see that she had a doula with her, who tried to get the shackles taken off, to no avail.

The descriptions of Torres’ experience are really horrific. I admire her courage for telling her story, with the hope that it will never happen again.

Being shackled during labor was just one of many dehumanizing moments Torres says she endured: When she was transported outside of the prison, a chain was wrapped two times around her body, just below her breasts and above her stomach, and then placed into a lockbox where her wrists were secured with handcuffs. A confident and careful speaker, Torres intermittently pauses to reflect on her story’s implications. “The squatting and the coughing [to search for hidden drugs and weapons]… I did even at nine months pregnant.”

These stories just further reveal a truth that many of us ignore–the dehumanizing and unjust practices of the criminal justice system. It isn’t just pregnant women who need to be treated better in prison.

In reaction to stories like these, a PA legislator, Senator David Leach, has introduced legislation to ban the practice.

The article also highlights the amazing work of three doulas working at Riverside Correctional Facility. I’ve been seeing an increasing number of doulas looking to work with incarcerated women as folks reveal the conditions that women often labor under. This program is even staffed by paid doulas–the other programs I know are volunteer.

Danyell Williams sleeps with her cell phone like a doctor with her omnipresent pager. The 37-year-old Philadelphia native and her three staff members—all trained doulas—are each on call for two weeks every other month, rushing to the hospital when they get word of an impending birth. Over last year’s Fourth of July weekend, Williams worked through 23 sleepless hours of labor.

MOMobile’s program at Riverside is groundbreaking. “We’re one of the only ones in the country,” says Williams. Since the beginning of the doula program in November 2006, MOMobile has attended 42 births.

The doulas are the only intimate human contact that jailed women have while giving birth. “When you’re incarcerated, the only people allowed in are security staff and MOMobile,” says Williams.

The good news of all of this is that there has been little opposition to legislation looking to ban the practice. The challenge comes with the bureaucracy of the prisons and the chain of command that often ignores legislation and procedural changes.

Read the whole piece here.

Thanks to New Voices Pittsburgh and La’Tasha Mayes for the link.

How about we call it blog for justice day?

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Today is blog for choice day, a chance for the blog world to commemorate the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade–on it’s 37th year!

Each year, I find myself unable to write about choice without talking about why I want it to be justice instead.

As I’ve talked about before, choice isn’t enough.

Choice doesn’t recognize that we don’t all have a choice. That often times our choices are impacted by what others want, by what we can afford, by what we will allow ourselves to do.

Our choices are mediated by politicians, religious figures, our paycheck this month. Our choices are limited by our family members, our lovers, what we see on TV and who is close to us when we have to make a decision.

Our choices are determined by the color of our skin, the language that rolls off our tongues, the restrictions of our bodies, the gender we identify with and the people we love.

Our choices aren’t just about abortion, they’re also about how we live, how we create family, how we interact with our bodies, with society, and with the world.

So I’m going to spend today, instead of thinking about choice, thinking about justice.

Certified doulas can now apply for insurance reimbursement

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Although this is new to me, it’s news from October. CAPPA announced that certified doulas will now be able to apply for insurance reimbursement through Medicaid and other third party insurance companies.

According to CAPPA, certified doulas can register for an NPI (national provider identification number) under the heading of “Nursing Service Related Providers Type.” (NOTE: According to CAPPA, you do not need to be a nurse).

Their post about this doesn’t explain which certifications count (DONA? CAPPA? toLabor?) or what the reimbursement might actually be.

These steps are really important for expanding access to doula care to those without the means, but who might have private insurance or Medicaid. The downside is that inclusion in insurance programs also usually mean stricter regulation of doulas, usually via certification. Right now, certification is just an administrative (and financial) hurdle doulas have to cross, but it’s possible that it could get harder as the role of the doula becomes more professionalized.

Will it be harder to be a radical doula in a super-professionalized doula world? It’s possible. (For more on why I’m not certified, go here).

Professionalization has also been a struggle for midwives. It’s meant more rigorous standards for education (and only certain types of education count), training and even malpractice insurance. It’s a double-bind, since for low-income women to have access to doula and midwifery care, we need insurance inclusion, but insurance inclusion means tighter regulation and restrictions on how we practice.

Anyone have experience getting reimbursed by insurance companies or Medicaid for their doula services?

Washington State: Only 30% of incarcerated women are shackled during labor

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The Superintendent of the Corrections Center for Women (the only one in WA state that houses pregnant women) said 30% of women are shackled during labor in a recent MSNBC article.

Only 30%?! Wow, how nice of them.

Bills have been introduced in the Washington State House and Senate that would outlaw the inhumane practice of shackling incarcerated pregnant women during labor and delivery. The laws would prevent the use of any types of restraints on pregnant women who are incarcerated.

Let’s hope this law passes, so 30% can become zero.

Thanks to Peggy at Open Arms for the heads up!

Shameless self-promotion: Want me to come speak at your campus?

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Part of what sustains my blogging is speaking. Getting to talk directly with folks, have conversations and hear about the work of other activists is one of my favorite parts of this work.

I’ve done events at campuses and conferences around the country, on topics like reproductive justice, gender non-conformity and feminism, the connections between birth activism and reproductive rights, Latinas in the US.

I’m happy to discuss pretty much anything I’ve written about!

I’m currently booking events for the spring, so email me if you’re interested in bringing me to your campus, conference or organization.

More info about previous events I’ve done is here.

In search of: Volunteer doula programs in New Jersey

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Photobucket

A fellow doula emailed to inquire about volunteer doula programs in New Jersey–she’s particularly interested in Northern New Jersey.

She’s interested in getting one together if there isn’t one already. If you know of any, leave them info in comments or email me.

The complete list of volunteer doula programs is here, and feel free to send info about any other programs I don’t have listed.

“The idea that a woman maintains her human rights, even when she’s pregnant, is a radical new idea.”

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The title comes from Lynn Paltrow, of the National Advocates for Pregnant Women, on this segment of GRITtv. Also on the segment is Silvia Henriquez, Executive Director of National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health.

Video after the jump.

Continue reading →

Woman forced into court-ordered hospital confinement and c-section

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UPDATE (Jan 13): Via the ACLU’s blog posted at RH Reality Check and Feministing, the State of Florida yesterday argued that forcing Burton to bed rest was just maintaining the “status quo.” Ugh.

Via a press release from the ACLU (which I can’t find on their website), a woman who was forced via court order to hospital confinement during her pregnancy’s case was heard yesterday in a Florida court.

Samantha Burton who was confined to a hospital bed, against her will, after disagreeing with her doctor’s recommendations for treating pregnancy complications last year.

In March 2009, the Circuit Court of Leon County ordered Ms. Burton – a pregnant mother of two – to be indefinitely confined to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital and forced to undergo any and all medical treatments deemed necessary to save her fetus.  After three days of state-compelled hospitalization, Ms. Burton miscarried and was released from the hospital.

In August 2009, Ms. Burton asked the court to overturn the lower court’s decision to compel her to undergo medical treatment, stating that her rights had been violated.

It’s pretty scary stuff when a court can force you into hospitalization based on the idea that they are protecting your fetus.

Jill at Unnecessarean wrote about this case in August. In her post, she explains that Burton actually had a forced c-section during the time of her hospitalization, which is when they realized that she had miscarried. The statement above doesn’t include that fact, but it’s in the brief filed by the ACLU.

The language the court used is pretty damn scary:

At the State’s request, the Circuit Court, Leon County, ordered Ms. Burton to be indefinitely confined, which had her pregnancy gone to term would have been up to fifteen weeks, to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital and to submit, against her will, to any and all medical treatments, restrictions to bed rest, and other interventions, including cesarean section delivery, that in the words of the court, “the unborn child’s attending physician,” deemed necessary to “preserve the life and health of Samantha Burton’s unborn child.”

I’ll update when I hear about the results of the case.

Thanks to Lynn Paltrow for the heads up

Is a “choice” a bad frame for childbirth?

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There is an article in the UK newspaper the Telegraph, about Sheila Kitzinger, and her thoughts about a new UK plan to ensure all women have choice when it comes to where they give birth. From a US perspective, the plan is pretty radical. The choice includes home birth, a birth center attended by midwives and a traditional hospital setting.

Kitzinger supports the plan, but criticizes the language of choice:

“Choice comes from the language of advertising – it is what happens in supermarkets,” she said. “The idea is one of free choice but in fact the products at eye level are displayed to have the greatest impact on the consumer; it is the same with maternity.”

“Childbirth experts are often blamed for raising women’s expectations but I think you have to look further. I think the problem is a consumerist agenda. We are geared up to competition, to test everything; nowadays, we see birth as a performance,” she said.

Sound familiar to anyone?

Reproductive justice activists have long critiqued the reproductive rights movement for using the consumer based “choice” framework. They argue that not everyone has the same “choice” largely due to social and economic factors.

Moving from choice to justice has been a way to move the reproductive rights framework to a broader philosophy that incorporates the reality that many women do not have a choice–and their socio-economic situation, their race, their religion, etc don’t allow them to make these decisions.

One of the reasons “choice” is so popular, though, is that it removes judgment. If I say I am pro-choice, I’m not saying I like abortion or promote it, but that I value the right of every individual to decide. Same thing with birth. If the UK government supports every woman having a choice, they are not saying that homebirth is good, or hospital birth bad, but that every person should be able to decide.

But “choice” still ignores that there are factors that influence us, often that we don’t have control over. Those factors could be doctor’s opinions, family pressures, economic circumstances, access issues, cultural barriers. This is another place where the reproductive justice and birth activist movements find commonality–“choice” isn’t working too well for either movement.

Reproductive rights folks have latched onto “justice” as a frame instead. Reproductive justice works toward a world where all people have the resources and support they need to make decisions about family creation. I think birth activism fits neatly into that framework, which is part of the reason I write about how these issues overlap.