Confidential Assistance 

About our healing ministry

Healing after Abortion is a ministry to women and men suffering from the trauma of abortion. As an outreach of Project Rachel we offer access to:

• spiritual direction and reconciliation
• Rachel's Vineyard weekend retreats*
• physical or mental health care
• moral and emotional support

*Through Project Joseph, we also offer one-day retreats by men and for men.

about retreats

Rachel's Vineyard and Project Joseph retreats present an ideal opportunity for a woman or man who has struggled with the emotional or spiritual pain of an abortion. During the retreat, we gather as the suffering Body of Christ and minister to each other in His name. We share spiritual exercises focusing on God's forgiveness, compassion and mercy. There are psychological exercises, which help work through repressed grief and anger, and many rituals to help you grieve the loss of an unborn child and accept God's forgiveness. The sacrament of reconciliation is also available. 

The people involved in Rachel's Vineyard and Project Joseph retreats have been trained to understand the pressures, misinformation, and confusion that may have influenced your decision to participate in an abortion, and will help you transform the pain of the past into hope.

Testimonies

"For 18 years, I have been haunted with heavy guilt that no one could have taken away, tormented by thoughts of what the child would have been like. Through participating in Rachel's Vineyard, I was finally able to forgive myself. I know that God has given me a peaceful mind, cleansed my heart and has washed away my guilt."

"It was the best weekend of my life. For the first time in 20 years, I was able to share my grief, my guilt, my anger. I was able to mourn the loss of my baby. But most important, I was able to believe that she now lives with Jesus . . . . For this, I will always be grateful."

"Before this retreat, I was spiritually dead. I was empty inside. I felt separated from the church and from God. After this retreat, I now feel alive and happy to be alive. I feel the love of God inside of me."

"Seventeen years ago, I was third party to my sister's abortion. I carried this burden in silence for way too many years. Then I told a friend of mine, who in turn told me about Project Rachel. I think God was responsible for this exchange because why else, out of nowhere, did I choose to disclose so many years later, and why to her?"

"Now that I have found Rachel, the answer is obvious:

I prayed for forgiveness and I found mercy.
I prayed for mercy and I found love.
I prayed for love and I found peace.
I prayed for peace and I found God.

Now I live reconciled, with hope, and with the freedom to pray for ... and with my baby, Angel, for all unborn babies and their parents. " 

Message From Pope Saint John Paul II to women who have had an abortion

"I would now like to say a special word to women who have had an abortion. The Church is aware of the many factors which may have influenced your decision, and she does not doubt that in many cases it was a painful and even shattering decision. The wound in your heart may not yet have healed.

"Certainly what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope. Try, rather, to understand what happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so, give yourselves over with humility and trust to repentance. The Father of mercies is ready to give you His forgiveness and His peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. You will come to understand that nothing is definitively lost and you will also be able to ask forgiveness from your child, who is now living in the Lord.

"With the friendly and expert help and advice of other people, and as a result of your own painful experience, you can be among the most eloquent defenders of everyone's right to life. Through your commitment to life, whether by accepting the birth of other children or by welcoming and caring for those most in need of someone to be close to them, you will become promoters of a new way of looking at human life." 

Evangelium Vitae (99)