The genocidal violence in Gaza can only be described as horrific and heartbreaking. The live footage of a million+ children and their caretakers being impacted by war is necessary for us to bear witness to and rightfully may impact our bodies and mental health.

For those who are also on their individual journeys of healing from abortion, termination for medical reasons, stillbirth, infant loss, miscarriage, and/or birth traumas – processing what is happening in Gaza may land in an especially heavy way.

For the Muslims we serve at HEART, we have found that community healing spaces with sharing, affirmations, and spiritual nourishment can be profoundly impactful. We are humbled to partner with the Ad’iyah Collective’s doula, Ammaarah, to offer such a space for Muslims who have experienced reproductive trauma(s). We recognize that not all who have experienced the named conditions and situations view their personal experiences as traumas, but for this particular session, we are inviting those who do associate their lived reality as reproductive traumas to join us.

All healing circles will be run for 2 hours on zoom and pre-registration is required. Sessions will start at 10:00AM PST/ 12:00PM CST/ 1:00PM EST/ 6:00PM BST.

This is a starting point as we continue to learn about the needs in our communities. If you would like to offer suggestions or partner with us to create additional spaces, please reach out to Sahar Pirzada at sahar@heartwomenandgirls.org. Reproductive traumas including PCOS, Endometriosis, infertility, menopause, and sexual dysfunction are other conditions we hope to explore in future healing circle series.

Political Context

While we work to radically change our systems so we can have access to the care that we need, and for the global attacks on muslim birthing bodies to end, we continue to prioritize taking care of each other. Our healing circles are part of our commitment to taking care of those we love most deeply, and who we center in our work. It is part of our abolitionist politic where we are actively creating communities of care as we divest from the state and government that continues to harm us through oppressive policies and institutional racism.

Who this is for: 

Any Muslim person who has experienced a self identified reproductive trauma and is looking for a communal space to process, learn, and be held – especially in relation to the genocidal violence in Gaza. 

While we recognize there is a range of experiences that fall under reproductive traumas over the lifespan, we are centering those who have experienced abortion, termination for medical reasons, stillbirth, infant loss, miscarriage, and/or birth traumas in this series and consider what they experienced as a life changing event or a “trauma”.

Meet the facilitators:

We are honored to host abortion doula, Ammaarah, of the Ad’iyah Collective, who will be co-facilitating the space with HEART’s Manager of Movement Building, Sahar Pirzada. 

Ad’iyah Muslim Abortion Collective is a community of Muslims who have experiences of pregnancy endings. Our spaces are for any and all Muslims who have had abortions, want abortions or need abortions. At Ad’iyah, we believe that Allah (swt) loves us all in abundance and that we should be able to draw on Islam before, during and after our abortions, as we draw on Islam in all aspects of our life. Our work is centred around love, reproductive justice and expansive Islam. Currently our work spans across community healing circles, knowledge sharing, resource provision and 1-2-1 doula work in the near future. 

Ammaarah (she/her) is the founder and primary doula at Ad’iyah Collective. She is a mixed race, Black and South Asian Muslim who has primarily worked in gender, racial and reproductive justice. She is also a relationship and sex educator and loves working with and alongside the wonderful communities she belongs to. 

Sahar Pirzada (she/her) is a Pakistani-American Muslim woman from the Bay Area, currently living in Los Angeles. She is the Manager of Movement Building for HEART where she explores the intersections of islamophobia and reproductive justice. Sahar draws from understanding of Islam as a religion of compassion, her personal reproductive traumas, and her professional training in social work to ground her approach to care and healing for others.