Abstract · This paper systematizes the experiences of groups processing caesarean section as loss in the context of grief processing and social and cultural factors affecting women. Processing is also complicated by the disenfranchised nature of the loss, which is linked to social genderstereotypes about childbearing and motherhood, and expectations about the culturally defined supportive role of the family. The complexities and specificities of loss around caesarean section are presented through a systematic analysis of the experiences of women participating in caesarean section coping groups. The very legitimation of loss in loss processing / support groups opens up the possibility of relating to loss. The relationship to the day of childbirth is also transformed: instead of being experienced as a painful event from the past, as a loss, it becomes an annually recurring part of one's own life history, worthy to be recalled and shared as a memory.