Hi friends! Happy Wednesday! Well, it’s no secret the past week was shit on a stick for anyone who cares about reproductive rights in America. I spent a lot of time donating, angry Instagram story posting, and ranting to anyone who would listen. To highlight how horrific a world without Roe can be, I wanted to cover a story about what it used to be like before abortion was legal in the United States. This week we are learning about The Jane Collective.
**This newsletter may be triggering to anyone who has had an abortion, suffered a miscarriage, or attempted to self-induce an abortion. I tried my best to use gender-neutral language where applicable as not only women obtain abortions.**
The Jane Collective
Let’s jump in our time machine to Chicago in 1969. Whenever I’m flying into O’Hare “My Kind of Town” by Frank Sinatra plays in my head. One of my favorite cities. Also, my dad was born there so it holds a very special place in my heart. OKAY, back to the point.
In 1969 abortions were illegal in Illinois (and most everywhere in the U.S.) so people who needed an abortion had very few options if they did not want to be pregnant. It was not uncommon for people to use coat hangers (or other foreign objects), ingest poison, or fall down stairs to induce miscarriages. If you’ve seen Revolutionary Road, you know. Before Roe, its estimated 200 women died per year attempting to self-induce abortions. And that’s just the reported statistics. Aside from trying to self-induce, the most common way to obtain an abortion was through underground means. If you’ve seen Dirty Dancing, you know.
The Jane Collective was just that, an underground network of individuals providing abortions to those in need. It was started by students at the University of Chicago. One of the founders, Heather Booth, helped a friend’s sister find a doctor to perform her abortion as she was “nearly suicidal” at the thought of having the child. After that, word got around and other women started to reach out to Heather to help them eliminate an unwanted pregnancy. Eventually, it became too much for Heather to handle alone. She reached out to some friends and the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union for help coordinating and organizing potential patients. There were two tenets of the Jane Collective: (1) they wanted abortions to be safe and performed by trained individuals, and (2) they wanted them to be as affordable as possible as the expense was something that prevented a lot of people from obtaining an abortion.
Because abortions were illegal and they couldn’t just write an ad in the Chicago Tribune, the Collective had to be creative in how they marketed their network. They would put an ad in alternative and student newspapers saying “Pregnant? Don’t want to be? Call Jane.” They would also provide a telephone number. Those seeking services would leave a voicemail and then receive a callback from someone in the Collective. Their information would be collected and passed up to “Big Jane.” They were given an address and then were taken to a second location to obtain the services. Occasionally they were blindfolded during transportation to the second place to conceal the address of the doctor who provided the service. One of their members, Jenny, also insisted on being in the room with the patients to ensure they were treated fairly and safely. When she was getting her abortion, she was surrounded by men and it made her feel uncomfortable so she wanted to change that for their clients.
The Jane Collective was working out well in helping people obtain abortions until they found out one of their most-used doctors had lied about his medical credentials. This did not sit well with the group and many members decided to leave. Others were like “hey, wait a minute, if he can do abortions safely without the proper credentials, we could probably learn how to do them.” So, some of the members of the Jane Collective learned how to perform abortions. This also allowed them to significantly knock down the price. When male doctors performed the procedure, it could cost anywhere from $500-$1,000. With the Jane Collective performing them, they charged $100 and would take less if the person couldn’t swing that kind of money.
However, this highlighted another problem with the Jane Collective, they were whiter than white bread. Most of the members were white and middle-class and now that they had knocked the prices down so significantly, more Black women were coming to them to obtain services. A Black woman named Lois was critical of the group for this very reason and joined the Collective to provide support to the Black patients. This came at great personal risk to her as she was well aware if she was ever caught, she would never get out of going to jail.
Speaking of jail, the police and the mob mostly left the Jane Collective alone because they had family members or friends who had used their services and their cheap prices were not in competition with the mob. Unfortunately, in 1972, the Collective’s location was reported to the police who raided one of their apartments and arrested seven members. While in the back of the police cars, the members ripped out the index cards of names of patients and swallowed them to maintain their anonymity. The members were charged with eleven counts of abortion and conspiracy to commit abortion which held a maximum sentence of 110 years in prison. Don’t even get me started on how absolutely fucked that is. Luckily, the Jane Collective had a good lawyer (we aren’t all bad!) who stayed the proceedings until Roe was decided a year later. This led to all the charges being dropped.
After Roe was decided, the Jane Collective’s mission was complete and they disbanded. During their tenure, the Jane Collective performed over 11,000 abortions. Most importantly, they provided safe procedures with one of the network’s doctors stating their safety rate was comparable to a legally operating clinic.
What Can I Do?
I think the most common thing people are asking this week is “what can I do?” Great question.
Donate. First, you can donate to Texas abortion funds (and funds in your area). The National Network of Abortion Funds is a great place to find those. Here’s a list of Texas-specific abortion funds as well.
Get Out the Dang Vote. Second, you can step up to volunteer to ensure anti-choice candidates in your area aren’t elected. See who Planned Parenthood endorses and connect with them about how you can phone bank, knock on doors, or support their volunteer efforts. I know writing postcards is easy, but phone banking and door knocking are the most effective ways to get people to the polls. This is also a good time to ensure your friends and family are registered to vote. State legislative races are critical because that’s where all these cuckoo abortion bills pass.
Educate. Don’t know a lot about reproductive justice and abortion rights? I don’t think you’re alone. A lot of folks haven’t read a lot of literature on the subject. Becoming more informed will help you become a better advocate and eviscerate your anti-choice uncle at your next family barbecue. I suggest “You’re the Only One I’ve Told: Stories Behind Abortion” by Dr. Meera Shah. My friend Kimya suggests “Policing the Womb” by Michele Goodwin. My friend Rachel suggests “Killing the Black Body” by Dorothy Roberts.
That’s all for this week. See you next Wednesday!
Citations
“The Jane Collective” Wikipedia
“Code Name Jane: The Women Behind a Covert Abortion Network” NYT