A 'cloak-and-dagger' operation to provide safe abortions and save women’s lives is the focus of the new HBO documentary, TheJanes.
“It was not only an important and relevant and timely story, but it was also just a pretty great, riveting cloak-and-dagger story,” Lessin tells. “It is a thriller, a feminist thriller. And we knew we had to get these voices on camera before it was too late.”
In the period before Roe, women had to be married to have access to contraception. Pregnant women were not welcome in most workplaces. One doctor details the often-grisly situation at the Cook County Hospital, which admitted roughly 5,000 women a year to its 40-bed septic abortion clinic. The Janes, which grew to be about 100 volunteers and performed thousands of safe abortions, built a secret, sophisticated system. Using the codename “Jane” — “I said we could use my phone, but change it so that they don’t ask for Eleanor,” Eleanor Oliver recalls. “How about Jane? Nobody’s called Jane anymore” — women needing help would reach out and describe their situation.
In 1972, seven of the Janes were arrested — including Judith Arcana, whose son Daniel is a producer on the film — and charged with abortion and conspiracy to commit abortion. They faced significant jail time, but their attorney kept filing motions to stall for time as the Supreme Court deliberated.
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