CHILDBIRTH STORIES FOR HEALING:
A Project to Raise Awareness of Obstetric Violence

Photo: Activity at CADERAMEN‘s space in Gurabo, Puerto Rico

Before becoming a non-profit organization, Caderamen was born from the desire to accompany, care for, and uphold the dignity of our communities’ sexual and reproductive health processes. We initially began as a municipal project in Vega Baja, under the name SePARÉ, where we offered early services for expecting families. Eventually, to ensure the project’s continuity, independence, and sustainability, we founded the organization Caderamen in 2016. 

In this space, we offer a wide range of comprehensive services: prenatal workshops, doula training, support during birth and postpartum, legal assistance (to uphold rights such as the right to be accompanied during childbirth), mental health services, social work, and lactation and psychological support. We also offer training sessions for health professionals, since misinformation and a lack of awareness about patients’ rights are also forms of institutional violence. 

Part of Caderamen’s work focuses on reducing the inequalities that affect families in Puerto Rico during sexual and reproductive health processes. After Hurricane María, the pandemic, and other challenges, we entered a period of pause and transition. In 2019, we were invited to collaborate on a project in the south of the island. Later, we acquired a space in Gurabo, where we are currently based, and from there, we expanded our work. In Caderamen, we support families as they navigate a hostile health system, recognizing that living conditions directly impact physical and mental health. As community doulas, our work goes beyond childbirth. We observe participants’ environments, we listen to them, and from there, we respond to needs rarely acknowledged in healthcare visits. 

During this process, we also recognized the importance of creating spaces for fathers and companions to talk, learn, and offer support throughout the pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum experiences. This is how Encuentros de Hombres y Paternidades [Gatherings for Men and Fatherhood] came about—initially virtual—where we discussed parenting, shared responsibility, and the many ways of being a father. In an effort to integrate the power of art into our work, we have created theater forums and community film projects to educate, heal, and mobilize in a creative and collective way. 

One of our main current projects is “Childbirth Stories for Healing,” an initiative led by our executive director, Tania M. De Jesús Laboy, who is an educator and community doula. This project seeks to shed light on and break the silence surrounding obstetric violence as another form of gender-based violence. We aim for these stories not only to be heard, but also spark changes in public policy, launch visibility campaigns, and continue pushing for meaningful change on the island. This project emerged from our executive director’s participation in the workshop “Testimonies, Community Narratives, and Public Policy with a Gender Perspective,” organized by Escritura Pública. 

“Childbirth Stories for Healing” includes a series of creative writing workshops, facilitated by professionals in perinatal psychology, designed for up to two groups of five and ten women and individuals who have given birth in Puerto Rico within the past five years. Our vision is for all reproductive processes to be experienced with dignity, respect, and justice. 

The Fundación de Mujeres en Puerto Rico supported Caderamen in the creation of a phenomenological study and an educational campaign to stop obstetric violence. Through our Reproductive Justice Fund, we invest in replicable initiatives like this one, born from community voices themselves, thus driving structural change toward dignified and accessible reproductive health for all people.

These efforts simply cannot happen without supporters like you. Each donation reinforces our partnerships with organizations advancing equity and helps sustain the vital work of the Fundación de Mujeres en Puerto Rico.