Resources for abortion doulas
“Why Abortion Doulas Matter Even When We’re Just Showing Up”
Pregnant people have all kinds of reactions to working with a doula, just like they have all kinds of reactions to abortion. For some, the decision to have an abortion is a wrenching one. For many others, it’s not emotionally fraught—but when I explain to a patient that I’m a non-medical support person and that I’ll be with them throughout the procedure, I’ve never been turned away. Everyone uses our moments alone differently.
Doulas not only support people having abortions but also demystify abortion in the wider world.
I had to travel for an abortion
I made the geographical and emotional journey drenched in stigma and with all the emotional baggage that Northern Irish society imposes on women who choose to end their pregnancies. I suppose I expected the staff at the clinic to be much the same and wag their finger or treat me disapprovingly. It was alien to me that they didn’t and a huge relief.
Naomi Connor
I’m a life music video by Isobel Anderson and Alliance for Choice
I wanted to collaborate with A4C on the video for a song that I had released the previous year, ‘_4284_ / I’m A Life’. The title makes reference to the number of Irish women from both North and South, who had travelled to England and Wales to access abortion services in 2016, the year I wrote the song. The lyrics use verbatim one woman’s real online account of travelling from Ireland to England for an abortion. I hoped the video could feature A4C supporters and those affected by the abortion rights campaign in Northern Ireland (NI).
Making a case for socially prescribed self care as a viable approach to abortion care and aftercare
I aim to make a case for activist practices as a holistic approach to self care that can address health inequity. As such, I advocate that abortion self care be socially prescribed through mainstream health and social care systems. I present here an aspirational proposal for an abortion self care programme for roll out in Ireland in the future. It would be made possible by trained Abortion Doulas whose role is to advise and support abortion seekers through their termination and the aftermath. To support my proposal, I have drawn on health guidance from a number of bodies including the World Health Organisation. I also compare existing abortion self care programmes to inform my proposal.
Why self-managed abortion is so much more than a provisional solution for times of pandemic
The history of abortion medicalisation is a relatively recent one. For centuries, abortion was routinely used to regulate fertility, along with “calendar-based” contraception and other methods then available. Even after the ban of abortion, the practice remained common within women’s circles, and midwives were a central figure in family planning services. Only in the nineteenth century was law invoked to regulate abortion provision.
Continue reading…
Mariana Prandini Assis & Sara Larrea (2020), Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, 28:1
Abortion Stigma: A Reconceptualization of Constituents, Causes, and Consequences
We discuss five reasons why abortion is stigmatized, beginning with the rationale identified by Kumar, Hessini, and Mitchell: The violation of female ideals of sexuality and motherhood. We then suggest additional causes of abortion stigma, including attributing personhood to the fetus, legal restrictions, the idea that abortion is dirty or unhealthy, and the use of stigma as a tool for anti-abortion efforts.
Intersectionality as a tool for social movements:
Strategies of inclusion and representation in the Québécois women’s movement
“When you work with the intersectional approach, of course you need to place the woman at the center … It is the woman herself who has to define what is more oppressing for her … Of course women experience a variety of oppressions, but here, we don’t work with a theoretical discourse. We work with concrete things. We work on the ground. When women arrive here, we try to respond by letting them identify their own needs.”
Marie Laperrière Northwestern University, IL, USA Eléonore Lépinard Center for Gender Studies, Quartier UNIL-Mouline, Lausanne, Switzerland
Providing Medical Abortions in low-resource settings
Includes; updated information on routes of misoprostol administration, infection and medical abortion, use of medical abortion for late first trimester abortion induction, telemedicine and medical abortion, professional and international clinical guidelines for use of mifepristone-misoprostol medical abortion, and a list of additional resources now available
Gynuity Health Projects, Providing Medical Abortion in Low-Resource Settings.pdf
FACTS
Some statistics from Women Help Women
Available research shows that contraception has a striking impact on the lives of women in terms of both improved survival and empowerment. Without access to family planning, women are trapped in a vicious cycle that inhibits their full participation in socioeconomic development.
NICE Abortion Guidelines 2019
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
This guideline covers care for women of any age (including girls and young women under 18) who request an abortion. It aims to improve the organisation of services and make them easier for women to access. Detailed recommendations on conducting abortions at different gestational stages are also included, to ensure that women get the safest and most effective care possible.
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has produced guidance for gynaecological services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Northern Ireland drags feet on abortion a year after UK orders roll-out.
“If the health minister continues to duck his obligations, when the impact of COVID subsides on normal sexual and reproductive services, then women will be sent back to England, to come back home bleeding and in pain,” Hughes said.