Excellence in Pacific Islander Reporting
Iris (Yi Youn) Kim, “Indigenous Doulas Lead the Fight for Reproductive Care Access in Guam,” NBC News
ABOUT THE WORK: For years, medical professionals had been sounding the alarm for what they considered a “maternal care crisis” on Guam. After the closure of the island’s only standalone birth center in 2022, Guam’s maternity support options were a single hospital and one doula. The island had also been without abortion services since the only abortion-providing doctor retired in 2018. Legislators and the Birthworkers of Color Collective’s founder proposed a bill to the Guam legislature (Bill 318-37) that would provide $400,000 to the Bureau of Women’s Affairs to make doula services eligible for Medicaid coverage and to fund the Guahan Doula Project, which would expand nonmedical support, education and resources for pregnant and postpartum women, their babies and families. The bill is currently stalled in the legislature.
Iris (Yi Youn) Kim is a reporter, memoirist, and filmmaker based in L.A. Previously, she produced fiction podcasts at Wondery and international TV shows at HBO Max.
She is a 2022 PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow, a 2022 Center for Public Diplomacy U.S.-South Korea NextGen Creative Fellow, and a 2023 inaugural Gold House Journalism Fellow. She has written for NBC Asian America, Harper’s Bazaar, Electric Lit, and TIME covering Asian American politics, identity and culture. Iris is currently working on a memoir about her experience as a Korean American woman navigating the legal system and a documentary about Asian American survivors at USC.
Judges’ comments: “Iris Kim's piece offers a fresh angle to a story on reproductive rights while highlighting the unique challenges of a Pacific Island territory that has historically been exploited, overlooked and underfunded. Kim is to-the-point but thorough in her coverage. The impact of her piece is clear in the narrative and subsequent legislative action that has directly resulted from issues raised in the article. Her inclusion of the Birthworkers of Color Collective—an excellent source-- clearly stemmed from thoughtful research. Further, Kim has woven in many voices to provide emotional connection and highlight nuances -- from Livia Marati's anxious search for potential birthing care amidst a typhoon to doula trainee Gilayna Santos, who experienced fear and isolation before choosing to have an abortion herself. By deftly outlining the complex historical and socio-political context surrounding reproductive health care access in Guam, Kim provides a gateway for audiences unfamiliar with the island to gain a deeper understanding of its particular challenges. Her story is an illustration of the CHamoru people's resilience, resourcefulness, and reclamation of identity through a return to indigenous practices that is likely to serve as a lifeline to the island's people.”
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