Published in 2016 by the Feminist Press
at the City University of New York
The Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue, Suite 5406
New York, NY 10016
First Feminist Press edition 2016
Copyright © 2016 by Mary Mahoney and Lauren Mitchell
Foreword copyright © 2016 by Loretta Ross
Afterword copyright © 2016 by Dr. Willie Parker
All rights reserved.
This book was made possible thanks to a grant from New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
No part of this book may be reproduced, used, or stored in any information retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the Feminist Press at the City University of New York, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
First printing November 2016
Cover design and text design by Suki Boynton
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Mahoney, Mary, author. | Mitchell, Lauren.
Title: The Doulas: radical care for pregnant people / by Mary Mahoney and Lauren Mitchell.
Description: New York: The Feminist Press, 2016.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016015027 (print) | LCCN 2016026774 (ebook) | ISBN 9781558619494 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Doulas. | Pregnancy. | Natural childbirth--Coaching. | BISAC: SOCIAL SCIENCE / Feminism & Feminist Theory. | MEDICAL / Nursing / Maternity, Perinatal, Women’s Health. | HEALTH & FITNESS / Pregnancy & Childbirth. | SOCIAL SCIENCE / Women’s Studies.
Classification: LCC RG950 .M33 2016 (print) | LCC RG950 (ebook) | DDC 618.4/5--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016015027
Like water on stone, I have loved them, and they have marked me.
—NAOMI WALLACE, One Flea Spare
CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT
DEDICATION
Thank God for the Doulas!: Loretta Ross
Introduction: An Organization on the Fringe
Part 1. The Beginning
A Great Idea
Look But Don’t Touch: Mary and Maria
How to Use Your Birth Doula Training . . . and How Not to Use It
Part 2. Doulas for Doulas
Before and After: Kat and Kim
Here for You, Here for Me: Kira and Lauren
Walking Gracefully through an Operating Room: Whitney and Shelly
All the Way: Lauren and Jonna
How to Pack a (Full-Spectrum) Doula Bag and Unpack Assumptions
Part 3. Ambiguous Losses
Look Away: Mary and Sonam
Open and Closed: Lauren, Mary, and Kiya
How to Talk to the Press
Part 4. A Crisis of Self-Care
Too Much to Give: Symone and Carol
Burning Out and Coming Back: Annie and Lila
How to Self-Care
Part 5. Activist Practice
The Deep End: Talia and Danika
An Unnameable Place: Kale and Vicki
How to Build a Full-Spectrum Model
Conclusion: Always a Doula
Afterword: Dr. Willie Parker
Glossary
Timeline
Acknowledgments
Thank God for the Doulas!
Most people have never heard of doulas, but I’d venture that all pregnant people could use one. Having a person who unconditionally nurtures you during a major life experience is a privilege too few enjoy. Doulas provide this exquisite nonjudgmental support to others—often strangers—and touch peoples’ lives in profound ways.
The original doula was a female slave (from the Greek word “doulē”), and the term eventually evolved in the past forty or so years to designate women trained as birth attendants. In 2008, though, a trio of young activists launched the concept of “abortion doulas” into the zeitgeist. By imagining the doula role anew, they expanded the meaning of the word to include the full spectrum of possible pregnancy outcomes—births, adoptions, abortions, miscarriages, and deaths—as well as services to women, men, transgender, and gender nonconforming people.
These new doulas proudly bear witness to the lives of those they serve, transforming themselves in the process. With little experience but plenty of empathy, Lauren Mitchell and Mary Mahoney helped create a full-spectrum doula movement to expand the caregiving model into one that covers the entire range of life possibilities. As activists as well as service providers, they articulated a new dimension of the human rights movement for reproductive self-determination, based on passion, service, and advocacy.
An inspiring group of full-spectrum doulas tell their stories in this book. Some serve in hospitals. Others labor in abortion clinics or at adoption agencies. Others work in homes. Together, they represent a fresh generation of caregivers who weave diverse pregnancy experiences into a holistic service and advocacy model that challenges stigmatized, artificial divisions among pregnancy outcomes. The same people who give birth sometimes have abortions or miscarriages. Some births culminate in an adoption. Every pregnancy is different, and each has its own finale.
That simple truth is why this book is precious. The stories of these full-spectrum doulas and their collective knowledge help end the painful social stereotypes that cause pregnant people to be categorized as good or bad based on a pregnancy’s outcome. Through the eyes of doulas, we witness the range of pregnancy experiences affected by imbalances of power, privilege, and knowledge, whether pregnant for four weeks or nine months. These doulas call it “story-based care” because they hear many stories of people for whom some choices are straightforward, while others offer extreme complexity, requiring the deftly engaged services of doulas who can handle both emotional and technical difficulties.
We also learn how important it is for doulas to take care of themselves in order to be brave for people whose experiences may be shrouded in stigma and secrecy. Doulas give so much emotional, physical, and spiritual support to others that they may fail to save some love for themselves. They join the movement to serve, not to be served. Because they see the macro-level systems that shape the experiences of their clients, they can let their desire to help fight injustices disguise their need to