Nonviolent Choice Directory: Help With Crisis Pregnancy & Beyond: Mother & Child Health

Nonviolent Choice Directory
...because there are, and can be,
better ways than abortion...

[Welcome/Terms of Use] [FAQs/Contact Us] [Our Affiliations] [Post Abortion Care] [Male Responsibility] [Sexual/Reproductive Health Education] [Pregnancy Prevention] [Help With Crisis Pregnancy & Beyond: An Overview] HELP WITH CRISIS PREGNANCY & BEYOND: MOTHER AND CHILD HEALTH [How Anyone & Everyone Can Help] [Mall] [Free and Low-Cost Internet and Computing Resources] [Nonviolent Choice Blog (With Action Alerts)] [Endorse "Pro Every Life, Pro Woman, Pro Reproductive Justice for All: A Manifesto"]

HELP WITH CRISIS PREGNANCY & BEYOND: MOTHER AND CHILD HEALTH (DURING & AFTER PREGNANCY)

This section covers health issues of mothers and children before, during, and after birth. If you cannot find what you are looking for in this section, please try another part of the Directory. If you still can't find it, please contact us.

Access to Maternal Child Health Care Services by Country (includes midwifery & HIV/AIDS services)
Maternal Child Health--General Guides/Overall Information & Advocacy

Spotlight on:
Alcohol, Tobacco, & Drug Use--coming soon!
Breastfeeding
Childbirth, Labor, & Delivery
Cord Blood Donation
Disabilities (Including Down Syndrome)
Domestic Violence/Abuse
Doulas Say what? They are g-dsends to many pregnant and postpartum women, and scientific evidence shows that they boost women's health.
Drugs and Medications
Environmental Health
Food & Nutrition
High Risk Pregnancy
Male Responsibility
Mental Health (Including Depression Suicide, & Tocophobia)
Water

Maternal Child Health--General Guides/Overall Information & Advocacy

EngenderHealth: Maternal/Child Health.

Maternal and Child Health Library: A Virtual Guide to MCH Information. From Georgetown University. In English, but has an extensive catalog of materials in other languages here.

Monitoring the Situation of Women and Children. Helpfully presented statistics from UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, on Child Survival and Health, Child Nutrition, Maternal Health, Water and Sanitation, Education, Child Protection, HIV/AUDS, Immunization, and Millennium Development Goal Monitoring.

Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health. (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish.) Initiative of the World Health Organization. Publisher of Opportunities for Africa's Newborns (English, French). This "publication highlights the opportunities to save the lives of 1.16 million newborn babies who die in sub-Saharan Africa every year. More than two thirds of these babies can be saved if coverage of low-cost, low-tech essential interventions reached 90 percent of women and children."

UNFPA: Safe Motherhood. (English, Arabic, French, Spanish.) "No woman should die giving life." But over the past year alone, over half a million women worldwide have. Learn about the issues and how UNFPA helps.

World Health Organization (WHO). (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish.) See especially Maternal Health, Child Health , Child Development, and Pregnancy.

Breastfeeding

La Leche League International. (Some Spanish content.) "To help mothers worldwide to breastfeed through mother-to-mother support, encouragement, information, and education."

World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action. "Global network of organizations and individuals who believe breastfeeding is the right of all children and mothers and who dedicate themselves to protect, promote and support this right." Covers such issues as breastfeeding and the workplace, mother support, male responsibility, family planning for the breastfeeding woman, HIV, and environmental pollution.

Childbirth, Labor, & Delivery

Coalition For Improving Maternity Services. Global coalition in support of The Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative.

Handling Labor and Delivery from Vaginal Birth to Cesarean, Epidural to Natural. From a licensed childbirth educator on About.com: Pregnancy & Childbirth.

Cord Blood Donation

Umbilical cord blood is usually just thrown away. But you can donate it instead to help people with life-threatening diseases like leukemia, lymphoma, and certain immune disorders. The blood needs to be collected within minutes after birth to be usable. So you need to plan a donation in advance. You can do this by talking now with the health care professionals who follow your pregnancy and by signing up with a donor registry (if available in your area).

Eurocord International Registry on Cord Blood Transplantation: FAQs.

Hema-Quebec. (English, French.) This blood banking foundation in Quebec, Canada has a public cord blood registry for expectant mothers.

National Marrow Donor Program: How to Donate Cord Blood. Has online cord blood registry that works with banks across the US and in Australia, France, Germany, Mexio, Spain, and Switzerland.

NHS (National Health Service) Cord Blood Bank. Serves England and Wales. Motto: "Do something amazing...create one life and save another." Has online registry.

Disabilities

Benotafraid.net. Describes itself as "an online outreach to parents who have received a poor or difficult prenatal diagnosis. The family stories, articles, and links within this site are presented as a resource for those who may have been asked to choose between terminating a pregnancy or continuing on despite the diagnosis. The benotafraid.net families faced the same decision and chose not to terminate. By sharing our experiences, we hope to offer encouragement to those who may be afraid to continue on."

Help With Crisis Pregnancy & Beyond: Parenting/Childrearing: Disability.

Light at the End of the Tunnel. Over 90% of chidren with a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome are aborted. This statistic reflects the widespread fear towards and misinformation about people with this disability (and people with disabilities in general). Light at the End of the Tunnel is a booklet from the National Down Syndrome Congress (US) that shows another, more hopeful, more informed way for families facing a prenatal diagnosis of this condition. This booklet offers practical information and encouragement from parents who chose life for their children and are glad they did.

National Center for Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (US). (English, Spanish.) "Our work includes identifying the causes of and preventing birth defects and developmental disabilities, helping children to develop and reach their full potential, and promoting health and well-being among people of all ages with disabilities."

Parents With Disabilities Online: The Right to Maternity.

Domestic Violence/Abuse

Domestic violence is a reality in many women's lives, and it often begins or gets worse during a woman's pregnancy. It can include pressure to abort your baby, or can harm your baby in other ways, and it is a danger to your own life and health, too. You do not have to face this alone.

Domestic Violence and Pregnancy: Guidelines for Screening & Referral. (.pdf file) For health workers, who know that pregnancy often represents an opportunity for healing as well as a time of increased danger for women, and who want the practical details of how best to intervene.

Hot Peach Pages: International Domestic Violence and Abuse Agencies List & Earth Words: Abuse Info in 75 Languages..

Intimate Partner Violence During Pregnancy, A Guide for Clinicians. (English; may also be in Spanish.) From the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Work Group on the Prevention of Violence During Pregnancy.

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (US). Network of shelter, service, and advocacy groups ready to help. The Coalition advises: "If you need immediate assistance, dial 911." To locate help in your area, "call the National Domestic Violence Hotline," (English, Spanish/Espanol), toll-free phone 1-800-799-SAFE; TTY for the Hearing Impaired, 1-800-787-3224.

Doulas

AllDoulas.com Online community for members of this profession.

DONA International. Professional association of doulas, whose work is to give pregnant, birthing, and postpartum women emotional and practical support. On this site, you can learn more about how a doula can help you and where to find one, or about how to become a doula.

Doulas : Learn about doulas and the services they provide and the benefits of having a doula in your birth. From the American Pregnancy Association.

Doulas Care Program, Center for the Childbearing Year. Goal: to "improve maternal and infant health outcomes and reduce disparities by matching qualified volunteer doulas with pregnant women and adolescents who have limited resources." Serves southeastern Michigan state.

Doulas for Labor and Delivery and Sutter Davis Hospital Volunteer Doula Program. For and by people in the northern California towns of Davis, Dixon, Winters, Woodland, West Sacramento, Vacaville and rural communities throughout Yolo and Eastern Solano counties.

Farmworker Doula Program. (English, Spanish.) From Migrant Health Promotion, which serves migrant farmworkers in southeastern Michigan and the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

Free Volunteer Doulas in Minnesota.

Goodwin Volunteer Doula Trust. Recruits volunteer doulas in Hull, England.

Hardship Fund. Allows members of Doulas UK to care for low-income women in their communities.

Operation Special Delivery. (For US military families.) "Provides trained volunteer doulas for pregnant women whose husbands or partners have been severely injured or who have lost their lives due to the current war on terror, or who will be deployed at the time that they are due to give birth."

Prison Doula Project. Service of the Birth Attendants to incarcerated women in western Washington state.

Single Parent Centre. Offers volunteer doulas in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

University of North Carolina Birth Partners: Volunteer Doula Resources.

Volunteer Doula Program. From the University of California San Diego Medical Center.

Drugs & Medications

Pregnancy and Medications: What's Safe? From HealthLink, Medical College of Wisconsin.

Pregnancy and Medicine. From WebMD.

SafeFetus.com. "A complete database of worldwide medications (generic & trade) providing information on the drugs' indications, fetal risk, breastfeeding risk, during pregnancy, according to the FDA" (US Food & Drug Administration).

Environmental Health

Center for Health, Environment, and Justice. The Center "can help you and your community if you are facing an environmental health risk. From leaking landfills and polluted drinking water to incinerators and hazardous waste sites, we can help you take action towards a healthier future...CHEJ's overarching goal has consistently been to prevent harm—particularly among vulnerable populations such as children. If a safer process, material or product exists it should be used. We believe that everyone, regardless of income, race, religion, or occupation, has a right to live, work, learn, play and pray in a healthy community."

Eco-Friendly Living. Resources listed right here in the Nonviolent Choice Directory.

Mercury Pollution: Pregnant and nursing women and their babies, along with older but still-growing children, are the most vulnerable to poisoning from this unfortunately common pollutant. More careful consumption of fish and seafood--or elimination of flesh eating altogether--can reduce your, and your child's, exposure to mercury. For help on how to do this, please see GotMercury.org and Backgrounder for the 2004 FDA/EPA Consumer Advisory: What You Need to Know About Mercury in Fish and Shellfish. If you are interested in vegetarianism during pregnancy, nursing, or beyond, please visit the Vegetarian Resource Group.

Skin Deep Cosmetics Safety Database. "A safety guide to cosmetics and personal care products brought to you by researchers at the Environmental Working Group...pairs ingredients in more than 25,000 products against 50 definitive toxicity and regulatory databases, making it the largest integrated data resource of its kind. Why did a small nonprofit take on such a big project? Because the FDA doesn't require companies to test their own products for safety." Covers reproductive health issues.

High-Risk Pregnancy

High Risk Pregnancy. (English, Spanish.) From MEDLINEPlus, a service of the National Institutes of Health (NIH, US).

Sidelines High Risk Pregnancy Support. Toll-free US phone 1-888-447-4754 (HI-RISK4).

Mental Health

Association for Pre and Perinatal Psychology and Health.

British Columbia Reproductive Mental Health Program. In-person help (for women in BC) and online information (for women everywhere) dealing with depression, anxiety, or other psychiatric concerns around pregnancy, the postpartum period, infertility, pregnancy loss (such as abortion or miscarriage), menstruation, or menopause.

Befrienders Worldwide. (English, Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, Hindi, Italian, Korean, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Tamil, Bengali, Danish, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Japanese, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Serbian-Croatian, KiSwahili.) Are you or is someone you love feeling suicidal? Carrying, birthing, and parenting children or placing them for adoption all can be very stressful, especially (but not always when a mother lacks the support she needs. Thankfully help is available for suicidal people and their loved ones throughout the world. Befrienders promises to "listen to people who are in distress. We don't judge them or tell them what to do - we listen."

Postpartum Support International. This organization assures, "if you or someone you know might be experiencing symptoms of prenatal or postpartum mood or anxiety disorder, know that it is treatable" and offers you its help.

Mental Health Services Locator (US). From the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's National Center for Mental Health Information. The FAQs include such topics as insurance and other ways to pay for your treatment; homelessness; and protection and advocacy for people with severe psychiatric problems. See also the American Psychiatric Association's How to Find Help Through Psychotherapy and Davis Mintun Professional Services' How Do You Choose a Good Psychotherapist?.

Tokophobia (sometimes spelled tocophobia). A common phobia of pregnancy and childbirth that affects both women who do not want to have biological children and women who do. Abortion is but one of the many sorts of preventable suffering that it causes. Fortunately, phobias of all kinds are highly treatable forms of mental distress. This entry in the Nonviolent Choice Directory's blog gives an overview of tokophobia and its effects, as well as resources for finding treatment, even if you have financial difficulties. If you suffer from this condition, you can seek relief for yourself, whether you wish to raise children or not.

Postabortion Care. A pregnancy and its aftermath can trigger unresolved issues from a past abortion or abortions.

Water

Rehydration Project. (English; can translate onsite into several other languages.) "2.2 million people in developing countries, most of them children, die every year from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, poor hygiene and overcrowding. 90% are children under 5...Thousands of deaths could be averted through a combined prevention and treatment strategy, interventions such as improved mother and child nutrition, optimal breastfeeding practices; Oral Rehydration Therapy [ORT]; new low-osmolarity formulations of ORS; incorporating rotavirus vaccines; zinc supplementation during diarrhoea episodes; immunizing all children against measles; appropriate drug therapy; increased access to safe clean water and sanitation facilities and improved personal and domestic hygiene, including keeping food and water clean and washing hands before touching food."

Water Aid International: Problems for Women and Problems for Children. More on the drastic consequences of denying water rights upon maternal child health.