What does all this mean, anyway?
At Your Legal Doula, we want to make your birth rights easier to understand – not harder! Here you’ll find an alphabetical list of words, terms, and concepts often used around our site and in the birth rights world.
Birth Rights
Our legal and human rights while pregnant, giving birth, and postpartum. This is what we do! Because although you may not have heard of “birth rights” before, Your Legal Doula is committed to making sure information about our rights during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum is available to everyone.
Birth Plan
A document outlining a pregnant individual’s preferences for labor and delivery. This can include everything from where we give birth, to pain management, to birth position, and other choices – even the music playing in the room. Things don’t always go “according to plan,” and that’s why it’s important to know what your legal rights are. To help you out, our templates offer a toolkit for creating a legally-informed birth plan.
Discrimination
Being treated in an unequal way. Most of the time, U.S. federal law protects us from discrimination based on our age, sex, race, and ethnicity. Your state may also have specific laws against discrimination. The law also protects us from discrimination during pregnancy–and it is important to understand what those protections are! It’s also important to know what your federal rights versus state rights are.
Doula
In Ancient Greek, the word δούλα meant a female servant. And who better to serve moms than another mom? That’s why Your Legal Doula is dedicated to advocating for birth rights in a legal system that often fails to take moms’ specific needs into account.
Today, when we say “doula,” we usually mean a birth worker who helps you physically and emotionally during the process of birth. A doula works for you – not for your doctor, midwife, or hospital. Click here to learn more about doulas, and why you may want to hire one for your birth.
Free Birth
A type of birth where you choose to give birth without a medical provider. You may decide to have a birth companion, such as a partner or family member; but you are deciding not to employ a doctor, midwife, or other medical provider licensed to assist you in giving birth. This choice is not illegal in most circumstances. However, often, this choice will limit the types of birth workers (such as doulas) who will agree to work with you.
Informed Consent
Everyone must secure your consent before they touch you; this includes doctors, midwives, nurses, and anyone else on your birth team! You have given “informed consent” for a procedure when the provider has fully explained the procedure. Your providers must break down the benefits, risks, and alternatives to each test and procedure offered.
Obstetrics / Obstetric Violence
Refers to medical providers who see you during pregnancies. “Obstetric violence” specifically means when a provider violates your rights during pregnancy, birth, or postpartum. For example, if you do not consent to a procedure – and your provider performs it anyway – that may be considered obstetric violence (and sometimes medical malpractice).
Postpartum
The period after childbirth, usually referring to the first few weeks and months, during which the mother recovers and cares for the newborn. (The reality is, after you have a baby, postpartum is forever! It’s important to take care of yourself, physically, emotionally, and legally, during this time.)
Unbundled Legal Services
Some of the services Your Legal Doula offers are considered “unbundled” – meaning, you are not hiring us to represent you for every aspect of a case or lawsuit, but only for help with one or two things at a time. Why do we offer this? Because legal services are expensive; and we want to make access to legal help more accessible. Some of our unbundled services include: legal coaching (the “how-to”s of advocacy); strategizing (there “what”s, “who”s, “when”s, etc.); and brainstorming (collecting data; researching laws; etc.).