What if an Alabama Doula Alliance could mean:

Better maternal and infant health outcomes?

As Alabama doulas, we aim to…

• promote safe, effective, and satisfying maternity care through research, education, and advocacy support.
• facilitate effective communication with families and their birth team.
• equip clients with quality, evidence-based information to make the best decisions for their bodies, babies, and births.
• offer families physical, emotional, informational, and advocacy support during their prenatal, intrapartum, and postpartum periods.
• commit to trauma-informed care and practices for ourselves and our clients.
• prioritize continuing education and competency development to serve our communities with excellence.
• create a thriving, autonomous, and sustainable profession.

Greater understanding of what’s impacting our state and communities’ maternity health needs?

What we are seeing in Alabama is…

• many maternity care deserts and unmet maternity healthcare goals.
• systemic failure to fully inform families of all their maternity care options, rights, and potential risks and benefits that enable true informed consent.
• approaches to maternity care that are often not evidence-based or family-centered.
• resistance that dishonors clients’ autonomy and authority in their decision-making.
• some families who want a doula, lack access to doula care.
• that although doulas improve maternal health outcomes, some clients experience adversarial environments, interactions, and policies that challenge their right to have continuous doula support.
• high rates of unnecessary interventions, preventable cesareans, and maternal and infant mortality and morbidity.
• experiences of obstetric violence that cause trauma to families and doulas.

More opportunities to be effective change agents when doula-related policies emerge?

Our vision is that Alabama families…

• receive quality, respectful, holistic maternity care and prenatal education that helps lower risks and contributes to better health outcomes.
• keep their power and confidently take ownership of their birth experience.
• can access and contract a doula of their choice, who will honor their dignity and be present wherever they choose to birth.
• are empowered to birth physiologically when desired and avoid coercive medicalization.
• have access to the judicious use of medical interventions when needed.
• receive more physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual support during the postpartum period to help families thrive.

What if a statewide Alabama doula effort — an Alabama Doula Alliance — could mean building this vision, together?

We are interested in working together as doulas to advance positive change in childbearing and client care, and to promote the power of community, networking, and solidarity among Alabama’s professional doulas.