Holistic Abortion and After Abortion Care
This week’s guest is Daena Horner. She’s an herbalist and abortion doula sharing her work from the collective @holistic.abortions Daena’s personal experience led her into this calling to bring warmth and spirit to the abortion experience.
Show Notes:
2:26 Daena’s introduction: herbalist, abortion doula, personal and professional experience
4:06 “protestors still stood on top of 10 foot ladders… they’re innovative if nothing less”
4:34 “I still found the procedure to be so cold”
5:09 “Afterwards I found myself feeling very alienated from something I’d been supporting for years”
6:09 “On our page you won’t see any arguments for or against… that’s not where we’re at”
6:28 “Pro-choice isn’t the end of it; it’s barely the beginning”
8:14 The evolution of the collective from the fear of smear campaigns and shaming @holistic.abortions - clinical herbalism with holistic doula support
12:51 “I was just so disappointed with my clinical experience… I felt so unseen and unheard”
13:57 “As much a birth, abortion and pregnancy loss can be an opening, it’s like a thinning of the veil and it can be this beautiful experience”
14:31 “It felt really important that we do not need to have those feelings we’re told we should have around our pregnancy losses”
16:47 “We deserve to have nuanced conversations around what our experiences look like”
20:17 Parallels between birth experiences and abortion experiences ‘abortion was the most loving of my parenting decisions’ ‘I learn and continue to learn from all of my children’
24:17 “People have been using herbs for a really long time for terminations and to control their fertility”
25:25 “looking at ways to access the spiritual side of this, and connect with plant allies and ancestors who’ve been doing this for a long time”
26:18 “Giving folks a chance to build this experience in whatever way they want”
26:55 “We counsel on lots of different ways that people might want to terminate either in the clinic or at home”
28:01 “People go through such diverse processes; it can be immediately afterward. It can be many weeks/month/years afterwards that healing can still happen”
33:20 “Herbs that I still go toward when someone is carrying the pregnancy are : oatstraw and red raspberry” “Motherwort- heart centric herb” “Flower essences” “root vegetables, warming, and comfort foods”
39:55 “It can feel like a really isolating time, but it’s not something you have to do alone”
Holistic Abortions Patreon
