“Bringing Queer Fertility Doula Support to Scotland With New Service Braw Birth.”

Braw Birth is a new Queer fertility and pregnancy doula service for people across Scotland. It’s run by Deva, a Queer and disabled doula living in Glasgow.  This unique doula service is one of the only Queer fertility doula services in the UK.

Braw Birth offers:

Fertility Support for people considering their options or those currently going through assisted conception support at a clinic. Braw Birth is equipped to support people at different stages or eventualities of their fertility journey.

The service also offers support to Queer people throughout their pregnancies and during the birth of their child.  

Braw Birth also provides training to other doulas to build on their skills to best support their fertility experienced clients during their pregnancy, birth and postpartum period to reduce the likelihood of trauma and the isolation people can feel.

Braw Birth is based and can provide in-person support in Glasgow. The service also offers Scottish-wide digital support.

Due to cis and heteronormative barriers and a lack of tailored care many LGBTQ+ people feel side-lined, misunderstood, or invisible in mainstream support. This can lead to LGBT+ people feeling very isolated or unsafe when going through the fertility system. Leading individuals and couples to try to conceive independently without any regulatory protection or the full story of their child’s conception not being disclosed.  

LGBTQ+ people stated experiencing gender dysphoria, heteronormativity & cisnormativity stigmatization, and psychological distress when accessing fertility treatment (Kirubaraian et al, 2021; Andalibi et al. 2022; Kirubarajan et al 2022). Lack of LGBTQ+ inclusive resources, lack of knowledge from healthcare providers and a perceived need to educate staff and non-LGBTQ+ people were also repeatedly highlighted as barriers (Kirubarajan et al, (2021); Kirubarajan et al (2022); Andalibi et al. (2022). Other individual struggles LGBTQ+ people faced when accessing fertility support were financial, emotional and physical stress, lack of support from family, and loss of pregnancy (Rausch et al. 2021).

 “Fertility and Assisted conception support is an essential service for most Queer and LGBT+ folk looking to start or add to their family. The issue and scope of support isn’t diverse enough to represent the lived experience of Queer communities and the families they create. I created Braw Birth as I wanted those starting their families and all pregnant people to feel more seen, considered and assured of their rights and the support and healthcare they receive. You deserve to have fertility and birthing experiences that give you dignity, respect and autonomy.” Deva, Braw Birth

References Used

Andalibi, N., Lacombe-Duncan, A., Roosevelt, L., Wojciechowski, K., & Giniel, C. (2022). LGBTQ Persons’ Use of Online Spaces to Navigate Conception, Pregnancy, and Pregnancy Loss: An Intersectional Approach. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 29(1), 1–46. https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3474362

Kirubarajan, A., Barker, L. C., Leung, S., Ross, L. E., Zaheer, J., Park, B., Abramovich, A., Yudin, M. H., & Lam, J. S. H. (2022). LGBTQ2S + childbearing individuals and perinatal mental health: A systematic review. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.17103

Kirubarajan, A., Patel, P., Leung, S., Park, B., & Sierra, S. (2021). Cultural competence in fertility care for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people: a systematic review of patient and provider perspectives. Fertility and Sterility, 115(5), 1294–1301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2020.12.002

Rausch, M. A., Wikoff, H. D., & Newton, T. (2021). Support for Lesbian Couples Navigating Fertility Treatment: An Ecological Systems Perspective. Journal of LGBTQ Issues in Counseling, 15(2), 224–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/15538605.2021.1914279