Doula as Pro-Life Agent

This is the second post in Pro-Mama, a 4-part series reflecting on God's gift of life in the first 1000 days of a baby's life--from conception to age 2.

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She may not be laying down at the threshold of the local abortion clinic. She might not be found in heated political debates on social media.

She is down on her knees beside a birthing ball.

She is, however, down on her knees beside a birthing ball. Her arms are extending a rebozo, a Mexican scarf that is perfect for relieving back labor. She gives chips of ice to the one in labor, reassurance to the partner standing by. She is God’s agent who is saving the lives of unborn babies.

I wish I knew then what I know now. It is not that I didn’t try. When I was pregnant I read books, went to classes, and consulted with friends. Yet I was still so unprepared and uninformed. Pregnancy and birth were for me about holding the newborn baby, a means to an end.   

I wish I knew then what I know now.

As an act of obedience and a response to my daughter’s professional interest in midwifery, she and I spent thirty-six hours training to become birth doulas.

Doula is a Greek word for “woman helper”--it’s the closest we could get to midwifery in the United States, where one must have extensive training in the medical field to actually be a midwife. A doula is a non-medical support person who aims to provide support and amplify the voice of the person giving birth.  

A doula is a non-medical support person who aims to provide support and amplify the voice of the person giving birth.  

The doula helps the birth parent(s) come up with a birth plan, provides evidence-based, suggestions for breathing, positioning, and comfort during labor. She is present with the family from pre-labor through early postpartum. She also provides prompts and reassurance to partners during labor, delivery, and surgery if a cesarean is necessary.  

Beyond the physical, lifesaving aspects of having a doula present during labor, there is an amazing spiritual aspect of the work that clarified for me why God was bugging me about this midwife/doula thing. The four-day training helped me understand the complexity and beauty of the process. The gestation period, the labor pains, and the pushing was all part of a beautiful process to bring to light something that has been growing in the dark.

The presence of doulas in the birthing room is literally saving the lives of unborn babies.  

This is not just anecdotal. Dona International is the organization that professionalized the role of doula and provided our extensive training. Evidence-based research shows how doula-assisted births have a higher degree of natural non-medicated births, and Vaginal Births After C-sections (VBACS) as well as a lower level of cesarean births overall. The presence of doulas in the birthing room is literally saving the lives of unborn babies.  

The data shows the significant difference having a doula makes for birth outcomes.

Mothers with doulas have:

• 28% less Cesarean sections (reducing risks associated with major surgery)
• 31% less less synthetic Oxytocin (labor-inducing medicine i.e. Pitocin)
• 9% less likely to have pain medicine (i.e. epidural)
• 34% more likely to rate their birth experience favorably

Typically birth doulas charge between $750-1500 per birth. The cost of this pro-life agent creates a barrier for some of the most vulnerable mothers and babies in the U.S.

The cost of this pro-life agent creates a barrier for some of the most vulnerable mothers and babies in the U.S.

Only two states, Oregon and Minnesota allow Medicaid to be used to cover the cost of a doula and that at less than $500 per birth. For this reason individual and placing agencies for doulas employ creative ways to subsidize the cost for mothers who are unable to pay the full amount.

In response to this deficit I invite the church to consider using its burning passion for unborn children to pay for doula training for under-resourced teen girls. It would be worthwhile to convince local high schools to allow the doula training to count for a health credit towards graduation. These students would be provided the extensive, hands-on education I wish I had at 31 when I gave birth to my first baby. During a four day training, teen girls would learn to honor their God-given bodies and to embrace the entire process of birth for mother and child.

I invite the church to consider using its burning passion for unborn children to pay for doula training for under-resourced teen girls.

After the training she might choose a career in the childbirth industry as a doula, childbirth educator, and/or lactation consultant. Even if she does not choose to doula as a career path she has evidence-based knowledge to inform her own baby’s birth story, and those of her peers as well. This training will plant pro-life agents in under-resourced areas of our communities and plant seeds for flourishing that produce informed mothers and healthy babies.

If I knew back then what I know now I would not have only hired a doula but I would have become one much sooner.