The Janes

"They didn't have a choice."

Defying the state legislature that outlawed abortion, the Catholic Church that condemned it, and the Chicago Mob that was profiting from it, the members of β€œJane” risked their personal and professional lives to support women with unwanted pregnancies. In the pre-Roe v. Wade era β€” a time when abortion was a crime in most states and even circulating information about abortion was a felony in Illinois β€” the Janes provided low-cost and free abortions to an estimated 11,000 women.