ABOUT THE PROJECT
Founded in 2011, the Bay Area Doula Project (BADP) is the first doula project offering ‘full-spectrum’ doula care in Northern California. We are an emerging group of doulas in the Bay Area who are committed to supporting pregnant people who are choosing abortion, or experiencing pregnancy outcomes other than live birth. Most of us are birth doulas, many of us are postpartum doulas as well. All of us are abortion doulas. We trust individuals to make their own decisions regarding their pregnancies, and offer unconditional support to people in need.
BADP volunteers engage in a number of projects that build the capacity of reproductive health professionals and that foster education and discussion in the community.
Doula Services:
We partner with ACCESS Women’s Health Justice and a number of Bay Area hospitals and clinics to provide doula support and accompaniment during in-clinic abortion procedures, and to offer in-home support for people having medication abortions.
Training:
Participants at our June 2013 open-call training
In conjunction with ACCESS Women’s Health Justice, BADP offers a Reproductive Justice in Action training, for people interested in providing volunteer support to people having abortions. BADP also offers abortion doula trainings that are open to the public. All trainings include overviews of abortion procedures and the reproductive justice model, hands-on comfort and pain-management techniques, and exercises in values clarification and myth-busting. Click here for details about our next training!
Salon Series:
March 2013 Salon Series: Using Herbs to Control Fertility
Salon Series is a monthly lecture or event hosted by BADP volunteers. Our aim is to foster community and conversation around topics related to sexuality, reproductive experiences, and reproductive health. All events are free, but we accept donations to support BADP. Join our email list for monthly updates on upcoming events!
Social Media:
Doulas at the Bay Area Launch Party of the Radical Doula Guide
BADP uses its social media presence to generate conversation about sexual and reproductive health, and to connect with a network of full-spectrum doula groups and the larger reproductive justice movement. Join the discussion by reading our Blog, liking us on Facebook, or following us on Twitter!
“At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality… We must strive every day so that this love of living humanity will be transformed into actual deeds, into acts that serve as examples, as a moving force.”
—Che Guevara
