Abortion Stories

Photo courtesy of NCJW (2022).

Do you have an abortion story that you’d like to share? JWA, in partnership with National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), is collecting the following kinds of stories: a story about your own experience of having an abortion, a story of helping someone else secure an abortion, a story of advocating for abortion rights. (JWA reserves the right to share your submission and contact information with NCJW and with scholars for research purposes.)

If you had an abortion, please tell us the story, in as much detail as you’re comfortable with. 

If you helped someone else secure an abortion, please tell us that story, but only either with the consent of the person who had the abortion or obscuring enough details so as to make that person unidentifiable.

Here are some suggested prompts to help guide your sharing:

  • How was your abortion experience shaped by your identities (racial, ethnic, gender, religious, class, sexuality, disability, etc.)?
  • What, if anything, was Jewish about your abortion experience? Did you have or want any Jewish/ritual practice connected to your your abortion?
  • How did ending your pregnancy impact your life?
  • Did you self-manage your miscarriage or abortion at home with pills/medication? What was that experience like?
  • How has abortion’s accessibility (or lack thereof) affected you personally? 
  • Growing up, what messages about abortion did you get from your family or community?
  • Have your reproductive health experiences more broadly (e.g., IVF, miscarriage, stillbirth, etc.) impacted how you understand what’s at stake with abortion access, and if so, how?
  • If you have been an advocate or activist for abortion rights, what have you done and what led you to do so? Please share any stories that feel particularly meaningful and relevant to preserve as part of the history of this work. Was your Jewishness part of your abortion advocacy in any way?

Download the app to record and share a story, or type and submit a story in the fields below.

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I wish to place the following restrictions on my submission (check all that apply):
  • I have the narrator’s permission to share her story;
  • I am at least 18 years of age, or if I am under 18 years of age, I have reviewed JWA’s Terms of Use with my parent or legal guardian and I have my parent or legal guardian’s permission to submit my story to JWA;
  • The information I am submitting is, to the best of my knowledge, truthful, accurate, and not misleading;
  • JWA reserves the right to share your submission and contact information with scholars for research purposes; and
  • I have read and agree to JWA’s Terms of Use.

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How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Abortion Stories." (Viewed on April 24, 2024) <http://jwa.org/stories/abortion-stories>.