What do you think?
It used to be that the word doula described primarily postpartum doula work. Doulas who take care of babies and mamas after birth. These days the definition has been expanded, and birth doulas help mamas (and their partners) during labor and childbirth.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about women who go through pregnancy loss. Miscarriage, abortion, stillborns. Some of these women go through labor and birth, some have other procedures. Many are alone and scared, most experience a variety of deep emotions and need a sympathetic ear. Some doulas are expanding their scope of practice to include women in this category. The support work that we do during labor and birth is very transferable to supporting a woman experiencing a pregnancy loss.
This is a controversial subject, especially in the case of abortion. Some people think that regardless of the loss, we should reach out to assist women who need us. Others feel it is completely out of the scope of what a doula is about – birth. So what do you think?
I’ll tell you what I think. I think EVERY woman deserves a doula.