The Doulas Quotes

“Everyone has a different reaction, but for a few minutes it will feel like very strong period cramps. The good news is when that happens, it means the uterus is going back to its prepregnancy size, which is what we want.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“Choosing certification is a personal decision, and we completely respect the many reasons why doulas choose to become certified. But we believe that it is not certification that makes a good doula.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“the doctors were our biggest champions.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“We would also like to add the following to the birth bag repertoire: trashy magazines to read with your client—especially if she gets an epidural—ditto for nail polish, a list of local resources that can help your client get on her feet, LUNA bars in every flavor they produce, a neck pillow, cash for the hospital diner where you will invariably eat your victory meal when it’s all done (our menu favorite is spanakopita and french fries).”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“ice packs, hot packs, bendy straws, hair ties, essential oils, face masks, latex gloves (in case things get unexpectedly messy), tennis balls and various other massagers, snacks for both you and your client, extra socks, breath mints and a toothbrush, as well as visualization and hypnobirthing exercises.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“keep in mind the wise words of doula Christy Hall, “Remember, you’re better than nothing. You’re probably better than a lot.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“some New York City hospitals reaching a staggering one-in-three rate of C-section deliveries, almost triple what the World Health Organization recommends.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“Always Seek to Fulfill Your Client’s Requests”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“Your chakras are closed around your heart. That’s very common in this line of work. You’re heartbroken.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“My clients would change me, how I practice care and walk through the world.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“The abortions, the stillbirth inductions, the adoption plans, they would move into me, and I would hold on to tiny pieces of every person I cared for.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“I wanted to tell the world about this care. I wanted to capture it in a bottle and pour it over everyone who would ever have an abortion.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“more than a million people have abortions every year in the United States alone.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“Conversation around abortion and birth in my community was not nuanced—there was no conversation at all.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“most parents don’t know how to talk to their kids about sex.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“When I was growing up, no one ever spoke to me in a real way about my body or my health”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“how “just being there,” a silent observer, bearing witness to someone else’s experience and reflecting it back to them can be so much and enough.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“she hums through what is typically the most physically difficult part of the procedure.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“This message of abstinence hovered over my Christian community”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“a swath of the country where conservative roots grow into all its children”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“Pregnant people are not to be trusted. This message is deeply ingrained in our culture. It’s everywhere: in our laws, in our media outlets, in our homes.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“I desperately want her to like me in a way that makes me feel twelve years old again, meeting my sixth grade teacher for the first time.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“Tucked into the basket that holds the blood pressure cuff behind Maria is a box of tissues, a staple of doula care.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“We created a purposeful position and named it, giving people something to hold on to. But mostly, we kept our heads down and served our clients. That’s what this work is all about.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“The “rise of the doula” is present in reproductive justice everywhere.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“Having a doula present during an abortion is no longer “icing on the cake”—our clinics consider us an important part of their infrastructure.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“You were either an abortion rights activist or a birth activist, and we are not the same; we are not community. Even as an abortion activist I remember feeling completely alienated from the birth rights people, and I couldn’t believe this chasm exists, but it does.” As a full-spectrum doula organization, we would find ourselves managing either side of this equation throughout our existence.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“I think advocates often make the mistake of assuming they know what the people they are trying to advocate for need. Direct care offers an opportunity to put those assumptions aside and actually listen to the needs of the person.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“we became more intentional about using the term “pregnant people.”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People

“Each time an article diminishing us was published, we were surprised. Wouldn’t acknowledging the human element in abortion reduce the stigma of the procedure?”
― Mary Mahoney, The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People