What It Was Like to Work at Jane, Chicago’s 1970s-era Underground Abortion Network
By Allison Yates
January 22 marks the anniversary of Roe V. Wade, the now-overturned monumental 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in the United States. Before 1973, women across the U.S. were still having abortions—and facing unsafe conditions, intimidation, and harassment in the process. Groups in places like Boston, Los Angeles, and Bloomington, Indiana were doing reproductive rights work, educating women and providing resources where our healthcare system failed. In Chicago, a group of women—some activists, many average Chicagoans with family, children, and responsibilities—came together around the idea that women deserved access to reproductive healthcare, and the right to make decisions about their own bodies. They started a referral service they called “Jane,” and later began performing abortions. In 1972,
After our Running Tour of Jane in September 2024, guide Kaylee Tock moderated a panel discussion with two former Janes, Dorie Barron and Benita Greenfield, and Scout Bratt of the Chicago Women’s Health Center, which formed from an iteration of Jane. Watch the video below to hear about their experience working for the “service,” the legacy Jane left, and what we can do today to continue ensuring equitable access to healthcare.