An abortion doula?

I know that it is a lovely spring day and you would rather not think about abortion today, but I have to get this off my chest!

The term doula means "a non-medical assistant in childbirth. A doula is not the father but is usually a woman who is experienced in childbirth. The role of the doula is to provide the mother with physical and emotional assistance before, during, or after childbirth. Also known as a birth assistant, birth companion, childbirth assistant, or labor support professional." (www.medicinenet.com)

The word "doula" comes from the Greek word for the most important female slave or servant in an ancient Greek household, the woman who probably helped the lady of the house through her childbearing. The word has come to refer to "a woman experienced in childbirth who provides continuous physical, emotional, and informational support to the mother before, during, and just after childbirth." (Klaus, Kennell and Klaus, Mothering the Mother)

Abortion clinics are now offering the women who come the clinics the services of an "ABORTION DOULA." This practice started in New York City as a way to provide support for a women who was having an abortion. www.thedoulaproject.org [Be advised that this site is graphic!]

Now, I am really confused because I thought a doula was a person who "provides the mother with physical and emotional assistance before, during, and just after childbirth." Pro-choicers like to point out to us ignorant pro-lifers that abortion does not end the life of a child, it's just tissue or a clump of cells . . . but it is definitely not a CHILD!

Well, if that is the case, then what is the need for doula? Isn't abortion just like having your tonsils or appendix out or having a tumor removed? It is according to our pro-choice friends. So, what would be the need for emotional support by a doula when you are just removing tissue or a clump of cells?

Can I get a tonsillectomy doula? an appendectomy doula? a tumor doula? I surely must need physical and emotional assistance to support me after the loss of these precious parts of MY body?

You say, "That is ridiculous." Of course it is. But it highlights the point that we don't grieve for tissue or a clump of cells; we grieve for a child when he or she is aborted. Pro-choicers can't have it both ways--if it's not a child, it's not childbirth. No childbirth, no doula required. We mourn for people, not tissues, tonsils, or tumors.