What Is a Doula?

A doula is a non-medical support person trained to provide physical, emotional, and informational support before, during, and after pregnancy. As abortion doulas, we specialize in supporting people through abortion and pregnancy loss experiences.

Abortion doulas can provide:

• • Nonjudgmental emotional support
  • Information about abortion and contraception
  • Pain management techniques
  • Physical support 
  • Unconditional affirmation of pregnancy decisions

Services We Provide

As a Collective, we primarily provide in-person support during abortion procedures at Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington Carol Whitehill Moses Center and Falls Church Healthcare Center.

On a patient-by-patient basis, DCDC doulas provide support to people having in-clinic abortions at other clinics in the DC area. We do our best to connect people who submit referral requests for support at other clinics with doulas, but the support we can provide depends on doula availability and the clinic’s policies. If you would like to inquire about support or refer a patient, please contact us.

Guiding Principles

We are committed to providing doula services to people in the DC area before, during, and after their abortions.

We strive to center Reproductive Justice through anti-racism and anti-oppression frameworks in the care we provide.

We recognize the barriers facing people of color, low-income people, young people, immigrants, people with disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ people by offering our services at no cost to the patients or clinics we serve.

We reject transphobia and homophobia, welcome nontraditional gender expressions within the Collective, and honor the fact that people of all genders have abortions.

We oppose abortion stigma in all its forms, recognizing the ways that abortion bans exacerbate feelings of isolation, despair, and desperation.

We support all people who have abortions for any reason.

How We Began

The Collective was founded in 2011 by a group of pro-choice birth doulas and reproductive justice advocates who believed that people seeking abortions may desire and would benefit from the same type of patient-centered, non-judgmental physical and emotional support that doulas traditionally provide to people during labor and birth. Ten years later, our work continues.