That women seeking abortions need support is obvious.
But pro-life and pro-abortion activists have vastly different ideas about what type of support that should be.
The Knoxville Abortion Doula Collective, a new pro-abortion group in Tennessee, says it is trying to support women by offering doulas to hold their hands and encourage them in their decisions to have an abortion.
The women’s magazine Marie Claire recently wrote a flattering piece about the pro-abortion group and the hundreds of women it has supposedly helped as they aborted their unborn babies.
Katie, a 22-year-old doula with the group, said her job is to act as a patient advocate and walk with the woman through the steps of the abortion. Many doulas sit with women during their abortions, holding their hands and offering them comfort and encouragement, according to the report.
Katie said she has been a doula for “a couple hundred” women since she began two years ago, and sees as many as 25 women a day.
The report continued:
Surely you’ve heard of traditional doulas: aides trained to assist people emotionally during childbirth. Abortion doulas do similar work, just for a different pregnancy outcome. Most abortion doulas and companions are volunteers, working to make sure that those seeking an abortion have support and access to information every step of the way.
Katie stresses that doulas do not offer medical advice or perform medical procedures. “Sometimes someone wants a hug, sometimes someone wants you to talk to them to distract them, and sometimes they just kind of want you to be there and just hold space for them in that moment.” She notes that most of the people who finish abortion doula training (which typically focuses on building empathy) and really thrive in the work are those who understand the limitations of their role. “You’re not there to save anybody,” she says. “You’re just there to support people, whatever that means for them.”
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The initiative received the support of the radical pro-abortion group NARAL, which attacks charities that offer life-affirming to support to moms and babies.
Ericka Claudio, of NARAL Pro-Choice Georgia, told the magazine that women who get abortions often feel shamed and stigmatized.
“I myself have never had an abortion, but I can only imagine the type of support that you would need in that process, especially because of how shamed and how ridiculed the procedure is,” she said. “It’s important for women to have access to a doula. You don’t have to worry about the judgment.”
But the issue, for the pro-abortion side, is about more than just providing support and protecting women from judgment. It also is about making the killing of unborn babies seem normal and good for women.
“Abortion doula work isn’t crucial because abortion is an inherently scarier or more traumatic medical procedure that people need support through,” Katie told the magazine. “People seeking abortion are politically and socially told, over and over, that their choices are wrong, and that because of that shame, they don’t deserve to be seen. I think there’s something powerful about people showing up in such a stigmatized moment to say the exact opposite.”
Pregnant women absolutely deserve support, but these pro-abortion groups attack charities that provide true pregnancy and parenting support to moms and their babies. Pregnancy resource centers offer women free education, pregnancy tests, baby supplies, adoption information, post-abortion healing support and much more. Yet, NARAL and other abortion advocacy groups repeatedly attack these centers because they do not support the killing of unborn babies.
True support means caring for every member of the family, born and unborn.
