In recognition of Women’s History Month we are showing The Janes
Thursday, March 16, 6–9 p.m. in RSU Council Chambers
Dinner will be served and an informal conversation follows the movie.
Synopsis: 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 offers first-hand accounts from the women at the
center of the group, many speaking on the record for the first time. 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 Jane 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 information about abortion was a felony in Illinois –– the Janes
provided low-cost and free abortions to an estimated 11,000 women.
