Seated in a room next to three doulas in Buffalo, first-time mother Francesca D’Auria admitted that, until recently, she wasn’t aware of the crucial role a doula plays before, during and after childbirth.
“I thought they were just people who sat there and held your hand,” said D’Auria, echoing a common misconception about doulas.
But D’Auria knows now and is glad she does. As she spoke at Calming Nature Doula Service & Center on the Upper West Side, the Cheektowaga resident closely held her then-3-week-old son, Hārūn Anwar Muhammad Howell, and explained how a doula provided support to her and her husband through the successful delivery at a local birthing center.
Doulas, nonclinical professionals who provide physical, informational and emotional support to the birthing parent and partner, have long been tied to improved birth outcomes.
And yet, the profession has historically been undervalued and under-reimbursed in a country with worse infant and maternal mortality rates than other developed countries.
And the U.S. infant and maternal mortality crisis comes with striking inequities: A Black woman is three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than a white woman, while a Black baby is nearly two-and-a-half times more likely to die before their first birthday than a white baby, according to federal data.
But there are some signs of change, including in New York – where leaders see expanded doula coverage as one key to reducing the racial inequities in maternal care.
What changes are coming?
Calling the country’s maternal and infant mortality rates “a disgrace,” Gov. Kathy Hochul on Nov. 6 signed legislation that requires the state Health Department to create and maintain a New York directory of doulas on its website.
Further, she announced that doula coverage will be available to all Medicaid enrollees in New York, starting Jan. 1 – a big deal considering nearly half of all births in the…
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