Invisible pregnant Queers

As I said in my last post, one topic I am very passionate about is LGBT+ people's experiences of pregnancy and birth.

As a doula, I have supported the pregnancies, births and early postnatal days of a whole variety of families. I've seen first hand how good, respectful care can protect a pregnant person and their family, even in the worst of circumstances. I've also seen how poor care can lead to traumatic births.

As a researcher, I have been having a look at what we actually know about queer birth and traumatic birth, and the answer so far is 'not a lot'. We know that pregnant trans men and lesbian couples do sometimes experience poor care linked to the fact they are Queer - whether that's outright homophobia or transphobia, or whether it comes from a lack of knowledge or experience in providing care to pregnant LGBT+ people. But there are - so far - no studies looking specifically at how this difference in care may impact birth trauma. Here is an academic article I've written, highlighting just how much we don't know about the experiences of LGBT+ people giving birth.

Gender: unexpected

I am passionate about supporting the reproductive journeys of all parents. As a doula I have helped to support the pregnancies, births and early postnatal days of a range of different families - single heterosexual and lesbian mums, single non-binary parents, heterosexual couples, lesbian couples, and gay male couples where one dad was a trans man. I am have been privileged to see some very respectful maternity care, but unfortunately have also seen some very poor care.

In my experience, all parents-to-be and new parents are uniquely vulnerable. Whether this is the first baby in a family, or whether this baby already has siblings, pregnancy and birth is a time of much change. There are hormonal changes, changes to personal and family relationships, and changes to jobs. Pregnancy and birth is often a time of both hopes and fears. Research already shows that poor care during this time can have a significant impact, and can lead to trauma for the person giving birth, their partner, and others present at the birth. We know that sometimes this trauma can impact longer term perinatal mental health difficulties, such as post-natal depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

So far, there seem to be few discussions about how a pregnant person's sexual orientation or gender can affect the quality of maternity service care that they receive. To start some of those discussions, I wrote an article for The Conversation which you can read here