Feminists For Choice

Before Roe v. Wade, women in the United States had to go to great lengths to obtain an abortion. An underground women’s collective in Chicago helped make abortion accessible. The group was called “Jane,” and they helped over 10,000 women before abortion became legal. The documentary “Jane, an Abortion Service,” tells their story.

Jane was started by a woman named Heather Booth, purely by happenstance. A friend needed an abortion and asked Booth to help her find a doctor who would perform the procedure. She successfully helped her friend, and then another, and another. Booth realized that there was many more women who needed help, so she started to recruit other abortion counselors at the women’s meetings that she was attending. The counselors told women what to expect medically during the abortion, as well as what to expect emotionally, and provided emotional support for the women who came to them for help. They operated entirely underground. Women would call a number, ask for Jane, and then get more information about what to do.

In the beginning, the counselors would pick up women on the street, blindfold them, then drop them off at the doctor and pick them up again when the abortion was completed. The doctor charged anywhere from $500-$1000. Jane counselors decided that they would ask the doctor to train them to perform abortions themselves so that they could lower the price and make abortion more affordable. Once they were able to do the abortions themselves, they told women to pay what they could afford. One patient paid $36 in change.

The women who were interviewed in the film got involved with Jane first as patients, then as counselors. If a woman wanted to, she could participate in multiple aspects of the organization, from answering telephone calls, to greeting patients, to performing abortions. It was very empowering for the members. The idea of performing abortions in an apartment seems ludicrous today, but when abortion was illegal, women were desperate and would do to any length to obtain an abortion. Women were willing to put their lives in the hands of strangers. Jane had such a good reputation on the street that over 10,000 women used their service. The patients described the counselors as loving and very considerate. One member said that they were very conscientious about their work because they couldn’t afford to make any mistakes – abortion was illegal and they couldn’t risk the possibility of hurting their patients.

Jane was eventually busted by the cops in 1972. Seven of the counselors were arrested. However, nobody was willing to come forward and testify against the Abortion 7. Roe v. Wade made abortion legal in January of 1973, so the charges were eventually dismissed. In the meantime, the work continued because women still needed help. When the Supreme Court legalized abortion, Jane disbanded because they were no longer needed. It is estimated that nearly 125 women participated as counselors.

Anyone who thinks that women who seek abortions do so lightheartedly clearly has no idea what they are talking about. The women who sought abortions when it was illegal did so because they were sure that abortion was the right decision. They were so convinced of their decision that they would literally risk their lives in order to obtain one.

This is a great documentary for feminist study groups to discuss because the film brings up a lot of questions for reproductive rights activists today. Thankfully we still have some access to reproductive services like abortion, but that access is being eroded every day. Would we be willing to do what the women of Jane did when abortion was illegal? Were these women taking the morally correct action by performing abortions in a nonmedical setting? Or was the risk of medical complication too great?

What’s your opinion? I’d love to read what you have to say about it.