Aligning Birth Work to Activism: A Daily Practice

Written By BADT

by Mel Graham

When most people begin their journey into birth work, often a moment in their lives radicalizes them. Whether it be their own birthing and/or parenting journey, a family member’s journey, or a story of someone that they heard on the news or through word of mouth.

Activism is the effort to promote, impede, direct, or intervene in social, political, economic, or environmental reform to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good.

Birth workers, whatever the event was to spark your interest and desire for this work, it was likely through the lens of activism.

The Reality Birthing People are Facing in 2024

As we take a look around our world today we see active genocides taking place in Palestine, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Tigray, and Sudan.

In each of these places, birthing people and families are fleeing bombs, bullets, and famine. Hospitals do not even have the proper materials to deliver babies safely. Families do not have diapers, milk, or other supplies for their newborns. Parents are standing in lines upon lines to find food and water. We have the alarming Black Maternal Health crisis in the United States, where we hear stories of Black birthing people being ignored by doctors, nurses, and other practitioners daily.

You may be saying to yourself, yea, I understand all of this, or you may be thinking that this is not your fight, but I want to empower you to go back to the why of your work.

If you only got into this work to kiss babies and hold hands of parents, you need to reevaluate. However, if you got into this work as a calling to combat the disparities and to dismantle the medical industrial complex, you are already an activist.

Consider the children that would have been in those same mines toiling for you as well in the Congo and Sudan. Millions are displaced with no or limited access to working hospitals, clinics, food, clean water, and shelter. This is not something we can just keep ignoring.

Uplifting the struggles of these global families, building awareness, and taking direct action is just as important as it is to advocate for families here in the States.

Speaking of there being no shelter, Palestinian people are displaced and have been pushed out of their land daily by Israel for decades. For the last 9 months, a coordinated attack to push Palestinians off their lands has been broadcast on a global stage. We are seeing what colonization looks like and what our ancestors endured.

The United States is backing this genocide and colonization. If you are an American citizen, it should be alarming and disheartening that our taxes are being used for this instead of housing, education, and healthcare. Read more about the Palestinian Occupation & the Medicalization of Birth by my colleague Ash here.

Bringing it back to the United States, the Supreme Court just criminalized houselessness here. We know that lots of our families are working poor and lower middle class. Some of us birth workers are also included in this statistic and could be houseless. 

When the Supreme Court reversed the federal protections for persons seeking an abortion, they sent the clear message that your state and its politicians have more of a right over your body and your future client's bodies than you.

Since the defeat of Roe vs Wade in 2022, 13 states have banned abortions with many others on the way to total bans as well.

This impact has reached beyond just abortion seeking, but those who suffer from miscarrying, fertility treatments, as well as higher infant mortality rates, especially in Texas.

With the loss of protections from Roe vs Wade, we have also seen the criminalization of reproductive rights skyrocket. 

History Has Brought Us Here

Let’s go back a little in history to when this country was being developed. The settlers colonized this land, and these colonizers began the state-sponsored removal of children otherwise known as the child welfare system. This system resulted in the separation of families through slavery and the disproportionate removal of American Indigenous and Alaskan Native children. We know the child welfare system to this day is still disproportionately removing children from Black, Brown, and Indigenous families. As a birth worker, this should raise alarms as we want all families and children to be together unless in extremely abusive situations, and we stand for birthing folks’ autonomy. 

Activism as a Birth Worker

As a birth worker, you are engaging with people who are seeking to become parents through fertility care, those who are pregnant, those who may suffer from a miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant death, during postpartum, and those who are seeking abortion healthcare.

When we see the government stripping away all of of these reproductive rights, we must be alarmed and become advocates for our families, clients, and communities.

This is not the time to push forward and claim ignorance, we must stand up and fight back to let the government and those zealots know we will not allow our families, clients, and communities to be controlled by them.

We know what’s best for our bodies and communities.

The Birthing Advocacy Trainings Full Spectrum training will help shape your activism, affirm your work, and allow you to find community with fellow activist birth workers.

Now is the time to join the fight. You will also be able to find your voice and lane, we don't have to up the fight in every activist space, but you should be in one of them. 

Where to Show Up 

(This is not an extensive list, just a start)

  • Local/State

    • If you are in an abortion ban state, connect with abortion doulas or local clinic escorts to see how you can support them. Find out when state legislation will be voting or discussing abortion access, volunteer to speak, or show up in solidarity.

    • Houselessness, the same thing, volunteer with local organizations that are working to combat the crisis. 

    • Food Insecurities, donate to food banks and community fridges. If there is not a community fridge, look into creating one Community Fridge Locations.

    • Advocacy for Trans Rights at state and local levels.

As for me, you will find me in the abolitionist, abortion rights, and anti-genocide spaces. If you would like to connect with me, I am on Instagram at mpowerdsouls, and if you would like to email me, mel@mpoweredsouls.net. 



Accounts to follow about:

Sudan

https://www.instagram.com/waladkosti

https://www.instagram.com/riseupforsudan

DRC 

https://www.instagram.com/congofriends

https://www.instagram.com/genocost

Palestine

https://www.instagram.com/wizard_bisan

https://www.instagram.com/letstalkpalestine



Mel’s Bio + Links:

Mel Graham, originally from Brooklyn, NY, resides in Charlotte, NC. I am a Queer Non-Binary Femme. I am a parent to 3 young adult children and a grandparent of three. 

I came into birthwork as an extension of my natural healing and teaching gifts. l spent over 30 years working as an assistant in various industries and has always yearned to support women, femmes, and gender non-conforming persons in all areas of their lives.

Weaving my healing skills, teaching skills, and learnings I can provide the grounding and listening spirit in a full spectrum way for persons in their postpartum, miscarriage or stillbirth, fertility, abortion as well as Trans Persons transition support. Supporting my fellow BIPOC LGBTIAQ+ members proudly. 

My website is mpoweredsouls.net//email mel@mpoweredsouls.net

Instagram @mpowerdsouls

BADT
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