Re/Envisioning Birth Work: Community-Based Doula Training for Low-Income and Previously Incarcerated Women in the United States

Abstract

This chapter considers a model of doula care that has the radical potential to improve maternity outcomes among some of the most marginalized women in the United States while enabling reproductive justice, employment opportunities, and community empowerment. The originators of this model trained low-income and previously incarcerated women of color in the East Bay area of San Francisco to work as birth doulas within their communities. The pilot project proved hugely successful for both the doulas and their clients, who speak eloquently of their increased awareness of birth justice, reproductive justice, and self-actualization. This model illustrated that a doula’s support can extend far beyond birth into broader issues of family, self-worth, and community health, as both doulas and their clients were able to pursue goals they had considered unreachable before the project. While the project was supported by grants, the doulas are actively working to make this model more sustainable across California by having doula work subsidized by Medicaid and funded by the savings incurred from healthy mothers and newborns needing less invasive and costly care than is presently available.