How to Support Reproductive Justice for Teenage Birthing People
We are really excited about this collaboration between BADT and Project Teenbirth (PTB)! It’s no secret that many teens who get pregnant face a great deal of stigma, whether they decide to parent, pursue adoption, or seek an abortion.
As an organization dedicated to contributing to the reproductive justice movement, BADT cares deeply about all birthing people having access to information, care, and support that is affirming, and this includes young people.
The work that PTB is doing to uplift and care for teen and young adults through their reproductive experiences is so needed! In this article, you will hear from PTB’s founder and full-spectrum doula, Melinda Morales, in conversation with BADT and PTB’s resident blog writer/coordinator, Court Harris. We are also sharing a collaborative list of actions you can take to support young birthing people near and far.
How and why did you start Project TeenBirth? We are excited to hear some of your story!
In 1995, at the age of 17, I gave birth to my son, Nitaino. I knew then and believed that my body was capable of giving birth without the need for medical interventions. We wanted a home birth with a midwife but ended up having to have our unmedicated hospital birth on a military base in Tampa, Florida.
During that experience, my voice was not heard. I don’t recall much of my first birth other than a male nurse getting my attention and telling me, “Melinda, shut up! You’re being too loud!”, in those exact words. I suppose maybe my vocalization during each contraction was too much for him. Or maybe the power in me was making his male ego uncomfortable.
Either way, that son of a bitch is one of the few visual moments that I can recall from giving birth for the first time. I don’t remember pushing my son out of my vagina. I don’t remember my son being given to me, his mother, to hold afterwards. What I do remember is feeling alone. I remember not being treated how I thought a person should be treated while giving birth. I really don’t remember much other than my ex husband supporting me and coaching me through each contraction; reminding me to focus on my breath. The only thing I knew for sure was that birth should not have been or felt like that.
Four years later, we found ourselves planning our home birth with a midwife. I can tell you every detail of that birth. I remember most of it vividly. After I gave birth I kept wondering and asking myself how and why was this birth experience so much different than my first?
When I think of my first birth, the words painful and unseen come to me instantly. However, when I think of my second birth experience, supported and believed in are the words I find myself thinking of.
Giving birth for the second time to my son, Oscar, was empowering. Magical. I’d even use the word orgasmic. Notice I didn't use the word painful at all because it was none of that to me. Intense, yes, well shit, it’s not called labor for no reason, lol! The only thing different between my two births were the environment I gave birth in and the people that surrounded me.
I knew right then, that if I could feel that empowered while giving birth in a place where I felt safe, seen, and heard, surrounded by people that supported and believed in me, that other young parents could also feel the same joy from giving birth if they were also supported unconditionally.
I wanted to create a safe space for other teen parents where they, too, could be seen and heard while giving birth. It was those experiences that led me to become what my ex-husband was at that time for me– a doula. So I decided to give birth to Project Teenbirth in hopes I could create a safe place for other teen parents as they transitioned into young parenthood.
2. What gaps in care/services/education/access do you see teen parents facing?
The most profound gap I see young pregnant people face is the lack of health literacy given to them within the school systems and government funded programs. This results in them not having the skills to ask the right questions and understand specific interventions and processes. Due to this lack of perinatal education, teen parents are unable to make fully informed decisions and choices surrounding their options, and if they decide to carry the pregnancy, prenatal care, labor, and birthing experiences. Instead, they are often manipulated or persuaded by the “authority” of the doctor, leaving them without a voice, unable to advocate for themselves.
Pregnant teens also have limited access to transportation. They’re missing school and prenatal visits because of this. If available in their area, services like Uber Health and Rideshare through Medicaid can be helpful, but if the pregnant person is a minor and does not have an adult to commute with, they cannot access these services.
Another lack of access I see that negatively impacts the care young birthing people receive is not having a reliable and consistent form of communication. Some pregnant teens are not able to financially pay for a phone so they are not able to schedule prenatal appointments, call a friend or family member for help/support, and/or communicate with their teachers if still in school. We’ve lost communication with a lot of the teens who have joined our program due to this.
PTB would love to be able to offer these types of services to our teens through funding and donations. If you’d like to help support our mission, you can learn more about sponsoring a teen here.
3. What changes or transformations do you want to see in the birth world, specifically in regards to young birthing people?
I would love to see teen parents being treated as whole, autonomous people. Not objects without a voice. The stigma surrounding teen pregnancy to this day is still very prevalent in our society. This creates a negative domino effect that cascades into the way they parent.
Young birthing people need more access to childbirth education specifically for them and sadly, it doesn't exist. Project Teenbirth is currently working on a curriculum to remedy this issue! Once complete, our goal is to be able to provide and teach this resource to all pregnant teens and educators within the school systems and government funded programs.
4. What is unique about providing services to teen birthing people?
I’ve always said and will continue to say that our work with pregnant teens and young parents is about breaking the cycle of generational curses and healing from generational traumas. It’s about empowerment and teaching self-love practices so they can better parent their unborn child and break the cycle of raising their kids within a dysfunctional childhood. Most of the teens we support come from physical and mental abuse, unstable homes, and lack of a healthy parent-child relationship.
I speak from experience. I grew up in an environment where sexual abuse and domestic violence was present. I used my voice but instead of being listened to, I was faced with accusations of lies and kicked out of my home. Several months later, I became pregnant at 16. This is the same story often told to us by those that join our program. Project Teenbirth’s work is more than birth work. It’s more than a prenatal home visit with your doula. It’s about teaching these young parents-to-be that no matter what they have been through, they are seen, they matter, and that they have a voice.
5. Share some of your favorite resources that you find yourself sharing with clients.
There are so many wonderful resources out there! I’d have to say Evidence Based Birth, Scarleteen, Planned Parenthood, teensource.org, Sex, Etc., and, of course, the PTB Blog just to name a few.
Ways You Can Contribute to Reproductive Justice for Teens
Connect with local organizations or birth workers that center and affirm teen and young adult birthing people. Planned Parenthood invests in education and support for teens.
Become familiar with purity culture and commit to your own unlearning of “rules” that promote shame around bodies and sex. Even if you aren’t parenting or aren’t interfacing with young people on the daily, you can contribute to larger cultural messages around bodies, sex, and birth. Check out Erica Smith’s work on this topic!
Explore sex positive sex education. If/when appropriate, share sex-positive, evidence-based resources with the young people in your life. Help them find meaningful resources for their unique reproductive experiences and/or find a doula who can support this process!
Learn about what’s happening with sex education (or not, sadly) in your local public schools and/or at the state level. Consider joining existing movements towards inclusive and sex-positive sex education.
Melinda Morales (she/her) is a Full Spectrum Doula and certified Community Outreach Perinatal Educator specializing in teen pregnancy and young parenthood. She is a mother of two boys and a bonus son. She has been a teen parent advocate supporting families in Central Florida since 2006. She is the founder of Project Teenbirth, Inc. - a 501(c)(3) non-profit community based organization supporting and educating young parents and lovebirth, LLC; perinatal support for all pregnancy outcomes. Melinda has been featured in Rewire.News, Not Another Teen Mommy.com, and Young Parent Anthology.