TRIGGER WARNING: this article contains discussions of pregnancy endings, abortions, unwanted pregnancies and miscarriages which may be upsetting.

In conversation with AZ, founder of the Ad’iyah Collective, it’s clear how faith, community and supportive care intersect for Muslims navigating pregnancy endings in the United Kingdom.

What is Ad’iyah Collective?

The Ad’iyah Collective is a community-led, network offering abortion and pregnancy-ending support for Muslims navigating reproductive choices in the UK and internationally. The approach seeks to offer abortion care that reflects the realities of Muslim communities, moving beyond the narrow, white feminist approaches that dominate abortion discourse globally. The collective offers a uniquely holistic approach to pregnancy endings and focuses on fostering a space to connect with other people with shared experiences. Ad’iyah also run doula trainings, sharing circles and educational talks.

With aftercare almost entirely absent from conventional abortion services, Ad’iyah fills a critical gap by centering faith, culture and community in pregnancy ending care. The Collective fills a critical gap in conventional pregnancy-ending services by creating a space to talk about and explore, in supported ways, how faith intersects with abortion and pregnancy. “A lot of people just don’t feel like their faith, their culture or their spirituality is taken into account when trying to access care”, said AZ during the interview.

“I think all of those things combine to create an environment where people maybe get the care that they need but they don’t get it in the way that they need”

The deep-rooted nature of abortion within Muslim history is something that the Collective tries to highlight through their trainings. There are many assumptions about how abortion exists and is perceived in cultures around the world, and the depth of abortion history is often overlooked. In many cultures, for example, there is an archetypal community elder who you trust, and everyone goes to for sexual health advice” – in the fragmented health care system today, Ad’iyah revives this form of trusted, community-based support.

Barriers to access in the UK health care system

Within the UK health care system, the barriers the Muslim community face reflect wider inequalities. There are many real-life barriers that this community encounters when accessing services, such as islamophobia and medical racism from health professionals in the field. Professionals have been heard to say things such as: “I didn’t know Muslims had abortions”. Different forms of abortion stigma is a lived reality, and Ad’iyah offers support that allows women to navigate this stigma while feeling supported by members of their own community.

Like many communities, practicalities surrounding pregnancy endings, such as related costs, must also be considered.

“Abortions are expensive – even if they are free you have to think about who’s going to take care of your children, how you are going to get there, who’s going to cook, how are you going to nourish your body and travel.” As well as coordinating time off work or scheduling their abortions over the weekend.

This can perpetuate the sense that the medical system is set up to serve people from specific socioeconomic backgrounds or with stronger knowledge of health care and health literacy.

“Abortion stigma is present in my community, and your community – and everyone’s community.”

Criminalisation and digital safety

The current legal climate heavily influences the pregnancy ending support services available in the UK today. Abortion itself has been legalised, but has not been formally decriminalised, putting some people – such as doulas, friends, family who support those undergoing abortion outside the specified legal conditions– at significant legal risk.

In terms of protective measures at the moment, AZ explains how the Ad’iyah Collective is “Trying to tighten up a lot on our digital hygiene”. This essentially means ensuring data is safe in an ever-changing technological landscape. Where community members use tools such as ChatGPT to get abortion advice, it is important to understand how platforms ensures both data security and also that AI feeds accurate and honest information to users.

“Pregnancy endings are not neutral. The womb is a site of colonial violence.”

What does Doula support look like?

Each doula practices differently, and in a way that is authentic to them. AZ says some act as a “stand in friend” while other doulas offer more practical support like preparing the logistics such as child care or managing an abortion over the weekend, so they can return to work on the Monday.

For Adi’yah doulas, abortion care begins long before a procedure and often extends far beyond it. “If somebody comes to me before an abortion, we’ll have conversations about what they need,” whether that’s a listening space, someone who can talk back and respond, or practical help with the rarely discussed logistics.

For those who want it, support can also be immediate and ongoing, and a doula may stay in contact during the abortion itself, available by phone or instant message. However, much of the work happens after and abortion, through what they describe as a “debrief for both abortions and for miscarriages,” offering space to process what happened at any point in the postpartum journey. From an Islamic perspective, this care can also include conversations about faith, such as “how to bring their faith into their pregnancy and the experience if that’s something they want”.

How you can support the Ad’iyah Collective

• Talk about its work.
• Supporting its work.
• Connecting the collective with more people.

“I wish people knew that abortion history is Muslim history; it’s Black history; it’s brown history. Narratives around abortion bans didn’t just randomly come into existence because of women in the global north.”

Adi'yah | Abortion and miscarriage support for Muslims, by Muslims.