We tell the story of a little known chapter in American history, before Roe v. Wade, when a clandestine group provided thousands of women with illegal abortions in Chicago.
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Abortion Was Illegal. This Secret Group Defied the Law
Producers: Miriam Weintraub and Jennifer Oko
Editor: Sandrine Isambert
Associate Producer: Meral Agish
Using tactics worthy of a spy novel, the Jane Collective carried out thousands of abortions in Chicago from 1969 to 1973. A woman seeking to end her pregnancy could leave a message on an answering machine. A “Callback Jane” phoned her, collected information and passed it to a “Big Jane.” Patients would be taken first to one address, “the front,” for counseling. They were then led, sometimes blindfolded, to another spot, “the place,” where a doctor did the abortion.
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