The act of praying with and for someone at an often difficult time of decision is a reminder that one doesn’t have to journey alone; it is an act of companionship and love precisely at a time when women and their families may feel very much alone. The prayers below cover numerous topics and come from many different faith traditions. We hope you’ll find one that speaks to you.
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For Women with Problem Pregnancies | “We pray for women who know that life is beginning within them, who face the agony of wondering what to do when they do not know if they can cope…”
For Partners | “… It might not be my body, It might not be my decision, But I am here: Because she matters to me, Because I care, Because no one should have to do this alone…”
For Men | “… We ask that you would help them be all that you have created them to be. Help them to see themselves as whole persons…”
For Those Who Choose Adoption | “We pray for birth mothers. We ask for informed maturity, compassionate ears and shoulders, and tough love to help them make good choices for themselves and their children…”
For Children in Need | “Help us, Creator of All, to continue to open our hearts and hands to those children in our world whom we can see are motherless, fatherless, hungry, ill, abandoned…”
For Providers of Women’s Health Care | “Gracious Provider of Care and Protection, we remember and stand with health care professionals who furnish health care for women.”
For Women Coerced and Forced Against Their Will | “God of our lives, help us to find ways to break the silence that perpetuates the cycles of sexual abuse and violence…”
For Women Who Are Immigrants and Seek Refuge | “Gracious God, you who guided Naomi and her family to look for bread in Moab, a foreign land, protect the women everywhere who have to leave behind their home or homelands so that they and their families can survive…”
For Women Who Struggle to Feed and House Their Families | “… But we also acknowledge that there are so many — especially women –who, in these times of an overabundance of low wage jobs, struggle to keep food on their tables and roofs over their heads…”
For Those Called to Elected Leadership | “… You have created and are creating still. Inspire our leaders to follow your teachings. Empower them to engage in conversations that will shed light and compassion. Help them listen to those with whom they disagree…”
For Those Called to Support Elected Officials | “… Merciful One, inspire and renew those called to serve on each staff so that whether seen or unseen, they know that they remain grounded in your care… “
A Chaplain’s Prayer | “… Promise yourself, whether or not others understand, you will always be true and faithful to your own deepest self…”
A Catholic Priest’s Blessing | “… Give us the clarity of mind to discern Your will, not in simple rules that ignore complexity, but in loving kindness that seeks to uplift and affirm all your children.”
A Rabbi’s Blessing | “… May the merciful and gracious God grant you strength in this difficult time of decision;May you find comfort and peace underneath the shelter of God’s wings.”
A Protestant Minister’s Prayer | “O God, you who are closer and more loving to me than I am to myself: I pray for your blessing as I join this sisterhood of difficult choices. As I sort out my feelings, lead me in the path of healing and resurrection.”
A Unitarian Universalist Minister’s Prayer | “Dear Sister. May I call you that? We don’t know one another, but I have walked in your shoes, had some of the same dreams and nightmares.”
An Islamic Prayer | “Take heart then, and know that God understands what you do and why you do it. There is nothing that you may not ask your God about. You are a woman and you are born free.”
A Prayer from Earth-Centered Spirituality | “I call upon your courage, your hard-won wisdom, You who have faced hard choices and survived, You who have stood with others many times where paths diverged.”