HELP FUND FULL-SPECTRUM DOULA SUPPORT FOR THE BALTIMORE COMMUNITY
by Baltimore Doula Project
Help increase access to full-spectrum doula services for Baltimore area residents who are seeking support during their pregnancy, abortion, miscarriage, loss, birth, or postpartum period.
Fund full-spectrum doula care in Baltimore, and help insure Baltimore families feel safe and supported no matter their choices in pregnancy and childbirth.
What is a doula?
A doula is a non-medical pregnancy care provider who is trained to provide physical, emotional, and educational support throughout pregnancy and childbirth. Full-spectrum doulas like us provide this kind of care throughout pregnancy, abortion, miscarriage, loss, childbirth, and postpartum.
What is the Baltimore Doula Project?
The Baltimore Doula Project (BDP) addresses gaps in pregnancy and postpartum support networks by providing accessible, compassionate, and trauma-informed doula care to pregnant and parenting individuals in the Baltimore area. Our focus is to provide physical, emotional, and educational support to our clients throughout pregnancy, miscarriage, abortion, loss, birth and postpartum, and make full spectrum doula care more accessible by providing it on a sliding scale rate. In making full-spectrum doula care available to marginalized populations in Baltimore, we strive to shift the culture of pregnancy, birth, abortion and postpartum care, emphasizing bodily autonomy and empowerment as a standard for pregnant and parenting individuals in the community. We believe that all individuals deserve access to supportive services along the full spectrum of pregnancy experiences and outcomes.
What have we done so far?
BDP has trained over 80 local abortion doulas and provided abortion doula support during over 700 abortion procedures.
We partner with three Baltimore-area abortion providers to support people experiencing abortion.
We have provided birth and postpartum support for 10 clients in the Baltimore area.
We partner with a variety of diverse, experienced doulas to connect pregnant people with birth support.
We have facilitated over 50 support group sessions for incarcerated pregnant and parenting people at Maryland Correctional Institution for Women (MCIW).
We have provided prenatal and postpartum doula care for over 15 pregnant people at Maryland Correctional Institute for Women.
We have trained 15 experienced doulas to volunteer with our prison doula program.
Why do we need your support?
The Baltimore Doula Project recognizes that nationwide there is a significant lack of emotional, physical and informational support for pregnant individuals and is one of the contributing factors to negative pregnancy and birth outcomes, high rates of maternal mortality, birth trauma, and postpartum mood disorders. Not all pregnant individuals have equal access to care that is free of judgement, that is compassionate, and outlines all possible pregnancy outcomes. The presence of a doula throughout all stages of pregnancy has shown to improve the pregnant person’s experience and increase the chances of having a healthy and positive outcome. The Baltimore Doula Project aims to increase access to doulas for those seeking an abortion, having a miscarriage, planning a birth, needing postpartum support, and those who are pregnant and incarcerated at Maryland Correctional Institute for Women. Cost is often a prohibiting factor for many people when it comes to having doula care. The Baltimore Doula Project offers free abortion doula support, free birth and postpartum support for those at Maryland Correctional Institute for Women, and sliding scale birth and postpartum support to Baltimore area folks.
No one should have to experience their miscarriage, abortion, pregnancy loss, birth or postpartum period alone. Yet many people do, or at least without adequate support. As doulas, we are trained in providing care that acknowledges and addresses emotional needs, and are equipped to manage the pregnant person’s physical discomfort by providing specific comfort measures. We are knowledgeable about the full-spectrum of pregnancy outcomes so that we can provide informed and unbiased answers to our clients’ questions. Providing these resources as doulas is important because we care about the pregnant person’s experience. The Baltimore Doula Project is working to ensure that folks in the Baltimore area have the support they need so that they can make informed decisions about their care and can ultimately have the pregnancy outcome they want.
Our work has always been volunteer-run and it takes a lot of volunteer hours to meet the growing demand for doulas. We have been seeing a significant increase in birth doula requests among low-income clients and we recently expanded our abortion doula services. Your donation will help fund:
- $100 provides labor support to a pregnant person without the means to hire a doula
- $50 provides abortion and pregnancy loss support training for a new doula
- $25 provides arts and crafts supplies to our support group for incarcerated moms
- $15 provides one hour of administrative work to keep our programs up and running
What is a doula?
A doula is a non-medical pregnancy care provider who is trained to provide physical, emotional, and educational support throughout pregnancy and childbirth. Full-spectrum doulas like us provide this kind of care throughout pregnancy, abortion, miscarriage, loss, childbirth, and postpartum.
What is the Baltimore Doula Project?
The Baltimore Doula Project (BDP) addresses gaps in pregnancy and postpartum support networks by providing accessible, compassionate, and trauma-informed doula care to pregnant and parenting individuals in the Baltimore area. Our focus is to provide physical, emotional, and educational support to our clients throughout pregnancy, miscarriage, abortion, loss, birth and postpartum, and make full spectrum doula care more accessible by providing it on a sliding scale rate. In making full-spectrum doula care available to marginalized populations in Baltimore, we strive to shift the culture of pregnancy, birth, abortion and postpartum care, emphasizing bodily autonomy and empowerment as a standard for pregnant and parenting individuals in the community. We believe that all individuals deserve access to supportive services along the full spectrum of pregnancy experiences and outcomes.
What have we done so far?
BDP has trained over 80 local abortion doulas and provided abortion doula support during over 700 abortion procedures.
We partner with three Baltimore-area abortion providers to support people experiencing abortion.
We have provided birth and postpartum support for 10 clients in the Baltimore area.
We partner with a variety of diverse, experienced doulas to connect pregnant people with birth support.
We have facilitated over 50 support group sessions for incarcerated pregnant and parenting people at Maryland Correctional Institution for Women (MCIW).
We have provided prenatal and postpartum doula care for over 15 pregnant people at Maryland Correctional Institute for Women.
We have trained 15 experienced doulas to volunteer with our prison doula program.
Why do we need your support?
The Baltimore Doula Project recognizes that nationwide there is a significant lack of emotional, physical and informational support for pregnant individuals and is one of the contributing factors to negative pregnancy and birth outcomes, high rates of maternal mortality, birth trauma, and postpartum mood disorders. Not all pregnant individuals have equal access to care that is free of judgement, that is compassionate, and outlines all possible pregnancy outcomes. The presence of a doula throughout all stages of pregnancy has shown to improve the pregnant person’s experience and increase the chances of having a healthy and positive outcome. The Baltimore Doula Project aims to increase access to doulas for those seeking an abortion, having a miscarriage, planning a birth, needing postpartum support, and those who are pregnant and incarcerated at Maryland Correctional Institute for Women. Cost is often a prohibiting factor for many people when it comes to having doula care. The Baltimore Doula Project offers free abortion doula support, free birth and postpartum support for those at Maryland Correctional Institute for Women, and sliding scale birth and postpartum support to Baltimore area folks.
No one should have to experience their miscarriage, abortion, pregnancy loss, birth or postpartum period alone. Yet many people do, or at least without adequate support. As doulas, we are trained in providing care that acknowledges and addresses emotional needs, and are equipped to manage the pregnant person’s physical discomfort by providing specific comfort measures. We are knowledgeable about the full-spectrum of pregnancy outcomes so that we can provide informed and unbiased answers to our clients’ questions. Providing these resources as doulas is important because we care about the pregnant person’s experience. The Baltimore Doula Project is working to ensure that folks in the Baltimore area have the support they need so that they can make informed decisions about their care and can ultimately have the pregnancy outcome they want.
Our work has always been volunteer-run and it takes a lot of volunteer hours to meet the growing demand for doulas. We have been seeing a significant increase in birth doula requests among low-income clients and we recently expanded our abortion doula services. Your donation will help fund:
- Birth and postpartum doula support for Baltimore-area residents
- Training the next group of abortion doulas
- Stipends for our 6-member Leadership Circle
DONATE
$2,029 RAISED
$2,000 GOAL
| This Appeal | 38 | 101% |
| has ended. | Believers | Funded |
This appeal has ended.