In a newly released report, the National Partnership for Women & Families details the value of doula support across a wide range of experiences for pregnant people, including abortion, miscarriage, and stillbirth.
The Partnership conducted in-depth interviews with full-spectrum doulas, health plan administrators, and public agencies that pay for doula services. Those interviews offer a clear insight into doula care’s role in the health and well-being of families and communities. The report addresses the barriers pregnant people face when attempting to access full-spectrum doula care and also provides a set of policy recommendations for state and federal policymakers, health system decisionmakers, and insurers.
“The findings on full spectrum doulas reveal how abortion care intersects with maternal care,” said Shaina Goodman, Director for Reproductive Health and Rights for the National Partnership. “As our nation’s reproductive health crisis deepens in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the case for including full-spectrum doula support as a standard service in reproductive health care becomes even more clear. Access to full-spectrum doulas opens a path toward mitigating the maternal health and abortion access crises in communities of color.”
From the Report
Yante Turner, Spiral Collective
“We are there for abortion, loss, miscarriage; we’re there for any postpartum work…We are there to aid, support, talk through emotionally, allow space, care for, invoke anything…that our client needs, that our people and community need.”
Margaret Olin Hoffman David, Certified Nurse Midwife, Alaska Native Birthworkers Community
“Our vision is to reclaim these traditional roles that we’ve had in supporting birthing families and helping to reconnect traditional practices back to our communities.”
Jamarah Amani, Executive Director of Southern Birth Justice Network
“There are a lot of gaps for things that we don’t get paid for. Based on what I know of my birth-worker community, most of us provide the services anyway, because we think that they’re important, and we know they’re what people need.”
Corrine Sanchez, Executive Director, Tewa Women United
“I think really listening and having those sessions with the communities most impacted around policy development [is essential]…making sure that we’re at the table. Don’t do this without us.”
Read the full report here.
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