"Doulas clearly improve clinical and service quality; they provide an absolutely safe way to reduce cesareans and other invasive birthing interventions."
Coming to Term: Innovations in Safely Reducing Cesarean Rates. Medical Leadership Council, Washington D.C. 1996
The Incarcerated Women’s Project started in 1998 after Open Arms applied for and received a grant from the March of Dimes. In collaboration with the King County Jail, Public Health Seattle and King County, and the University of Washington, the IWP provided doulas for pregnant women who are incarcerated at the time that they go into labor. Without doula care, these women labored and birthed with only medical staff and a jail guard in attendance.
