The Janes

In the spring of 1972, police raided an apartment on the South Side of Chicago where seven women who were part of a clandestine network were arrested and charged. Using code names, fronts, and safe houses to protect themselves and their work, the accused had built an underground service for women seeking safe, affordable, illegal abortions. They called themselves "Jane." The Janes tells the story of a group of unlikely outlaws. Defying state legislature that outlawed abortion, the Catholic Church that condemned it, and the Chicago Mob that was profiting from it, the members risked their personal and professional lives to help women in need. In the pre-Roe v. Wade era – a time when abortion was a crime in most states and even circulating info about abortion was a felony in Illinois – the Janes provided low-cost / free abortions to an estimated 11,000 women.