Alabama Cohosh Collaborative

About Alabama Cohosh Collaborative

Alabama Cohosh Collaborative was founded in 2019 to improve reproductive healthcare in Alabama. We provide in-clinic abortion doula support for people having surgical procedures at Alabama Women’s Center in north Alabama.

The Alabama Abortion Doula Initiative is the founding project of our organization. We believe that all people having abortions deserve support. Our goal is to provide professional abortion doula support to every person having an abortion in Alabama. We believe this work has the capacity to shift stigma around abortion, as many people come in for their procedures full of fear, shame, and guilt over their decision. Having the support of a compassionate, unbiased support person makes a huge difference.

The impact of abortion doula support for pregnant people cannot be overstated. Doulas are able to focus solely on the mental and emotional wellbeing of the person having an abortion. They can provide a calming presence, physical touch as reassurance (if desired), help with coping techniques for discomfort, and are a listening ear for people to express whatever they are feeling before, during, and after their abortion procedure.

There are a myriad of barriers to accessing safe reproductive care in the state of Alabama. Abortion access is extremely limited, with only three clinics in the state. The social climate is hostile towards people seeking abortions, with patients often facing verbal harassment and threats as they enter and exit clinics. Patients face an overall social stigma towards abortion and may have no support for their decision.

Abortion is often a multifaceted experience for people, full of a myriad of emotions and physical sensations. Having a doula there to act as a guide through the experience can buffer from cultural stigma and shame, helping to support the process of emotionally integrating the physical and psychological shift from being pregnant to being not-pregnant.

In addition to our abortion doula work, we also provide reproductive justice-based support to the north Alabama community through the North Alabama Breast Pump Project and the North Alabama Cloth Diaper Bank, which offer pumps & cloth diapers to any family who states a need. In addition, we are working towards establishing a birth doula fund through the Black Birthers Doula Initiative.

We are grateful to be a part of making Alabama a safer place for all pregnant and postpartum people.