Esteemed readers and listeners,
What did you think of Estelle? Were you surprised by her personality, impressed by her chutzpah, or irked by her ability to get away with so much?
Well, if you haven’t already heard it on Apple, Spotify, or iHeart, I present you with Episode 2! Another story of inspiring scofflaw mischief.
Did I say mischief? I meant “affordable and high-quality healthcare.”
Meet Jane.
“She” was an anonymous, underground, and very illegal collective of women who helped women find safe and affordable abortions. Many of them joined the group after they themselves had been helped by Jane. They had the 1960s equivalent of a five-star rating, with many women saying that the overall level of attention and care they’d been given surpassed any of the medical services they’d received from licensed physicians.
It all began when Heather Booth, a white University of Chicago student (go Maroons!), was asked if she could help another woman find a way to end an unintended pregnancy. Heather, being active in the Civil Rights movement at the time, got connected to TRM Howard, a Black doctor and activist who was willing to risk his medical license to help.
When the next woman called, and the next, and the next, Heather knew it was time for more organized action. She recruited enough women to staff a telephone and answering machine—and every woman would use the name “Jane” on the phone, which both kept the volunteers anonymous and, they hoped, gave the callers a comforting sense of always speaking to the same person.
At first, Jane connected women with abortion providers they’d vetted. (Underground medical procedures being a scary world then as now.) But eventually, after learning that one of their best guys wasn’t actually a doctor at all, they realized, Hey, we’re not- doctors too! They asked him to train a couple of them, and that allowed Jane to offer pay-what-you-can abortions.
Jane’s main competition and threats were the Chicago mob and the Chicago police. To protect everyone involved, Janes would drive women blindfolded between different locations for their abortions. But they were eventually busted, and while the seven Janes arrested that day spent only one night in jail, they each faced hundred-year prison sentences.
They were saved by the bell (or, saved by the gavel). The Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v Wade led the prosecutor to drop the charges, and the Janes were free. Some continued a life of activism, and others returned to their regularly scheduled programs, never telling a soul that they had been one of those infamous Janes.
For this episode, we interviewed filmmakers Tia Lessen and Emma Pildes about their documentary, The Janes, which they produced as Roe v Wade was being dismantled. I’ve watched the movie more than once, because their footage of 1960s Chicago is a pleasure to soak in, and because the Janes they interview are incredible.
Their significance to the estimated 11,000 women they helped is undeniable, but it isn’t the end of their impact.
Heather Booth never stopped
Heather Booth founded The Midwest Academy, which has been training people in grassroots organizing continuously since 1972. Recent alums include one of the leaders of DACA defenders group United We Dream.
Both nonprofits and businesses crusading for access to abortion and reproductive healthcare today have adopted the name Jane for themselves.
When Elizabeth Warren wanted to create the Consumer Financial Protections Bureau, Heather Booth was the name everyone recommended. Booth got involved in helping Warren create the agency.
And that’s just a few examples! Here are links to more ways you can learn about the Jane collective, Heather Booth, and this fascinating history.
Learn more about how the Civil Rights and feminist movements were interwoven in her interview for an Oral History project about the civil rights & SNCC leader Julian Bond.
Watch Tia and Emma’s documentary The Janes on HBO (aka Max) — and understand that there are still people who’d rather you didn’t.
The poster advertising a screening of The Janes in Chicago was vandalized. Watch the 1996 doc Jane: An Abortion Story on Kanopy with your library card
Heather Booth and many Janes were Jewish, as explored in Lilith and Jewish Women’s Archive.
Learn more about Marie Leaner, Civil Rights activist and (at least today) Jane’s most recognized Black member, from WBEZ Chicago, abc, and The New Yorker
Last words & links
I’m having a launch party tomorrow in the Hudson Valley!
But for those who are out of town, there are two ways you can celebrate: by becoming an annual or founding member (for 20% less!) during our launch week earns you your choice of merch! (Mm, this tote is pretty sweet if I do say so myself.)
Or by bidding in our mini silent auction! It’s the blue neon-light coathanger for me.
Official “show notes” and transcript are available here.
Meet "Jane," the abortion activists who bested Chicago's mob