Doulas are non-medical professionals who provide emotional, educational and physical support to people during and after pregnancy. They can work with medical professionals, such as OB-GYNs and midwives, but cannot give medical advice, perform medical procedures or give medications. There is no regulated certification or training requirement to practice as a doula in the United States, but people can receive training and certification through organizations such as DONA and their local birth center.<\/p>\n
Doulas can set their own prices for services, with some doulas in El Paso charging around $1,500 for prenatal, birth and postpartum support packages. Some doulas accept health insurance.<\/p>\n
A full-spectrum doula supports the full range of pregnancy and can be present for childbirth, but some specialize in just abortion and miscarriage, said Melissa Lopez Sullivan, director of the New Mexico Doula Association. Even people who do birth work don\u2019t always think about how not every pregnancy ends in the birth of a living baby, Lopez Sullivan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if there\u2019s a miscarriage, there\u2019s very little treatment or attention in the medical system paid to the emotional wellbeing of the person,\u201d Lopez Sullivan said. \u201cApart from the physical recovery, that is incredibly important.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I think about that, in all aspects of pregnancy care and loss, the doula is the person who stays with you from the beginning to end no matter what happens, and is able to treat you with kindness and respect during the most trying experiences of your life, which can also be birth,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CB_Doulas-7.jpg\")
Chuco Community Doulas is an organization that aims to provide locally-based, bilingual services to the border community, especially those who have difficulty affording traditional doula and medical services. (Corrie Boudreaux\/El Paso Matters)<\/p>\n
Julia\u2019s doula, Catalina Camacho, is one of the few doulas in El Paso to support people who have experienced a pregnancy loss.<\/p>\n
Camacho works as a full-spectrum doula and obtained accreditation through the New Mexico Department of Health. Most of her clients are Medicaid recipients in New Mexico, but she\u2019s also begun taking private clients in Texas.<\/p>\n
In Texas, her pregnancy loss services are limited to aftercare. Camacho said she cannot help people secure an abortion and she does not distribute abortion pills \u2013 both of which are illegal in Texas.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s important to have doulas who specialize in pregnancy loss because it\u2019s a topic that\u2019s not discussed much despite how common it is, Camacho said. One in every four to five pregnancies end in a miscarriage, also known as a spontaneous abortion. In 2024, there were about 15 abortions for every 1,000 women of childbearing age nationwide, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research and policy organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that people hold a lot of grief during miscarriages and it\u2019s a pain that\u2019s minimized a lot,\u201d Camacho said. \u201cLike, \u2018Oh, you can try later.\u2019 Or, \u2018You didn\u2019t even know them (the baby).\u2019 Just very insensitive things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of this care in general, like birth and abortion and miscarriage care, has been very medicalized,\u201d she continued. \u201cI feel like that type of care needs to be more in the hands of community members.\u201d<\/p>\n
What is an abortion and miscarriage doula?<\/p>\n
Lopez Sullivan said a pregnancy-loss doula can support a client in various ways, from practicing breathing exercises, providing heating pads and evaluating what\u2019s normal and what might need medical attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sometimes a client just wants to sit in silence with someone as they process their grief.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese can be confusing times and put people in difficult circumstances, especially if they\u2019re going back to a state like Texas,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople living in restrictive states come to access life-saving health care and when they do that, they feel alone, scared and away from home. One thing we do to make them feel less alone is to help them navigate the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Abortion-billboard.jpg\")
A billboard placed by the New Mexico advocacy group Bold Futures on Interstate 10 between El Paso and Las Cruces promotes legal access to abortion in the state. (Photo courtesy of Chantelle Yazzie-Martin)<\/p>\n
The Guttmacher Institute estimates that in 2023, about 14,200 patients from Texas traveled to New Mexico for abortion \u2013 accounting for about 70% of all abortions provided in New Mexico. That was the first full year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the federal constitutional right to an abortion.<\/p>\n
Medication abortions account for most of all abortions in the United States. A two-step regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol, FDA-approved drugs, can be used to terminate pregnancies within the first trimester.<\/p>\n
While unintended pregnancies and first-trimester terminations make up the vast majority of abortions, some people decide to end wanted pregnancies because of fetal abnormalities incompatible with life or health conditions that threaten the mother\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think what\u2019s so good about abortion providers and doulas is that we don\u2019t ever try to convince people to do anything,\u201d Camacho said. \u201cWe just provide all the options, all the information, all the evidence and let people decide what they want. Sometimes people have asked me, \u2018Wait, aren\u2019t you gonna try to convince me to have an abortion?\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018No, I actually don\u2019t advocate for people doing a certain thing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Julia said Camacho educated her on what to expect after taking abortion medication. She passed small blood clots on the first day, and then experienced light bleeding for a week after.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt secure in my decision and relief once it was done,\u201d Julia said. \u201cCati (Camacho) continued to ensure I didn\u2019t have any warning signs and checked in on me emotionally. Not once did she show a biased opinion and she was able to give me clarity and reassurance throughout the entire process.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are more than 200 doulas in the New Mexico Doula Association, Lopez Sullivan said. Some have state credentials after New Mexico passed House Bill 214, the Doula Credentialing and Access Act, in 2025. Credentialed doulas can bill health insurance agencies and are bound by HIPAA, federal law that protects patient health information from being disclosed without consent.<\/p>\n
Lopez Sullivan cautioned people who are looking for a doula to support their pregnancy journey to interview doulas, more than one if possible. Some birthworkers are anti-abortion and doulas who are not credentialed may not be bound by HIPAA to protect their clients\u2019 health decisions. Doulas who are anti-abortion may not advertise their political agenda on their social media or website.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/free-womens-clinic-1.png\")
The website for an anti-abortion pregnancy center may show up when searching in El Paso for the nearest abortion clinic. Credit: Screenshot by El Paso Matters<\/p>\n
\u201cIf your value system is one of bodily autonomy, oftentimes you\u2019ll see pretty clearly if that doula is aligned toward one way or not,\u201d she said. \u201cThey tend to be pretty transparent. The risk to me comes for that in-between, inconspicuous, CPC (crisis pregnancy center<\/a>) area where there\u2019s a presentation of certain neutrality that isn\u2019t really true. That can get you into trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n How El Paso women began guiding people after pregnancy loss<\/p>\n In 2025, Camacho and Bella Luna, an El Paso doula and lactation consultant, hosted miscarriage and abortion aftercare classes for birthworkers. The classes covered what the body experiences during a pregnancy loss, common management techniques, aftercare for cramping and other symptoms, and reasons for additional medical attention.<\/p>\n Luna, whose work focuses on breastfeeding, said the classes felt necessary because their doula training in Texas skimmed the topic of pregnancy loss. Doulas have expressed fear working in pregnancy loss aftercare, even if it\u2019s legal, because they\u2019re scared of being criminalized somehow, Luna said.<\/p>\n For D\u00eda de los Muertos last year, Luna created a pregnancy and baby loss altar for community members to bring photos and tokens of their loss, and connect with others. Luna clarified that loss goes beyond stillbirth, infant death and miscarriage. It can include abortion, failed IVF and failed adoption.<\/p>\n \u201cI work at a hospital here and do full-time lactation support, but even in the hospital setting, I have to go and counsel mothers who have experienced a loss and most likely will still produce milk,\u201d Luna said. \u201cI see it pretty often, like with fetal demise, but I was never given formal training \u2026 like no trauma-informed nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n Camacho said she received training in self-managed abortions in 2018 from the nonprofit Women Help Women and a few years later began working for a virtual clinic, Just the Pill. The clinic offered telehealth services and prescribed abortion medication in Colorado, Minnesota, Montana and Wyoming at the time. Camacho worked as an abortion doula and patient navigator doing intake, helping between 200 to 300 clients a month, she estimated.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CB_Doulas-1.jpg\")
Bella Luna, a doula and lactaction consultant, often steps into the role of helping women whose pregnancy has ended in loss even though it is an often-overlooked aspect of pregnancy and maternal medicine. (Corrie Boudreaux\/El Paso Matters)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CB_Doulas-13.jpg\")
Bella Luna, left, and Catalina Camacho are co-founders of Chuco Community Doulas. Their organization engages in a variety of community outreach activities, such as handing out condoms, Narcan and menstrual supplies at community events. (Corrie Boudreaux\/El Paso Matters)<\/p>\n