Ending Pregnancy

Deciding to end a pregnancy is difficult. Regardless of the circumstances, it is a complex loss—one that needs to be acknowledged. Ritual can help us cope with—and make sense of—our emotional response to this arduous experience.
Photo by Rabbi Roni Handler

Abortion Ritual

By Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael | Complete Ceremony

A ceremony that a woman who has had an abortion can perform with a group of women. This ceremony uses the symbols of tashlich (casting out) and mikveh, the woman mourns the loss, renews herself and attempts to bring closure to the abortion. [more]

Found In: Ending Pregnancy

Tags: abortion

Act of Dedication After a Therapeutic Abortion

By Vienna Cobb Anderson | Complete Ceremony

A ceremony that a pregnant woman or couple can perform with a close group of friends or family after the decision to have a therapeutic abortion has been made [more]

Found In: Ending Pregnancy

Tags: abortion

A Lullaby for Courage

By Debbie Perlman | Poem

A new psalm for a woman terminating her pregnancy [more]

Found In: Ending Pregnancy

Tags: abortion

Prayer to be Said When Preparing to End a Pregnancy

By Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin | Prayer

Prayer to be recited when pregnancy must be ended therapeutically [more]

Found In: Ending Pregnancy

Tags: abortion

Kaddish for the End of Biological Fertility

By Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael | Prayer

A moving prayer in which the author, working off the traditional kaddish, mourns her inability to birth a child. [more]