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Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Lauren

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Speaker 1: Bogelbaum here. In nineteen sixty five, Heather Booth became the

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Speaker 1: first Jane. Then a student at the University of Chicago,

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Speaker 1: Booth helped a friend's sister find a safe abortion at

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Speaker 1: a time when the practice was illegal in every state.

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Speaker 1: Her work sparked a movement and a group that became

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Speaker 1: known as the Jane Collective. For the article this episode

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Speaker 1: is based on How Stuff Works, spoke with Rainy Horowitz, MD,

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Speaker 1: currently a resident at the Emory University Medical School. She

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Speaker 1: explained that before Roe v. Wade was passed in nineteen

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Speaker 1: seventy three a quote getting a safe abortion was not

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Speaker 1: something that was easy or accessible. This was pre medication abortion,

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Speaker 1: when only surgical abortion was available. Because those abortions had

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Speaker 1: to happen illicitly, the level of care provided could vary.

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Speaker 1: Some of the practitioners were, Horowitz said, these kinds of sketchy, underground,

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Speaker 1: poorly trained, just trying to make a quick buck abortionists.

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Speaker 1: There were also licensed trained physicians who were doing abortions

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Speaker 1: very secretly for a larger amount of money. People seeking

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Speaker 1: abortions at this time or attempting to perform one themselves

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Speaker 1: were putting their lives at risk. In nineteen sixty five,

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Speaker 1: as Booth began connecting more people with grassroots care, a

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Speaker 1: legal abortion accounted for almost one fifth of all pregnancy

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Speaker 1: and childbirth related deaths that were officially reported as such,

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Speaker 1: the actual number was probably higher. Around the Chicago area,

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Speaker 1: college students and other women who couldn't afford a steep

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Speaker 1: fee for their safety turned to the budding Jane Collective.

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Speaker 1: It was called up because Jane was a very every

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Speaker 1: woman's sort of name. The collective posted flyers and ads

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Speaker 1: that read pregnant Don't want to be called Jane. Horwitz said.

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Speaker 1: They would advertise in underground newspapers and by word of

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Speaker 1: mouth and give you a contact number that you could call,

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Speaker 1: essentially a hotline, and ask for Jane. They would counsel

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Speaker 1: you about this unwanted pregnancy and give you the option

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Speaker 1: of coming to obtain an abortion that was at a

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Speaker 1: much more reasonable price. Secrecy was important because this was

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Speaker 1: in a pre rov Weighe time where getting an abortion

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Speaker 1: was extremely illegal impunishable by the law. To ensure that

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Speaker 1: secrecy and protect the privacy of everyone involved, the operation

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Speaker 1: had a number of clandestine elements. Horowitz explained, they would

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Speaker 1: have the patients come to a location that they called

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Speaker 1: the Front, which was an apartment where they would check

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Speaker 1: you in and family could wait. The patient would then

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Speaker 1: be transported to a second location. Horwitz said that really

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Speaker 1: added another layer of security, because should the front get

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Speaker 1: rated by police, the location where the woman was actually

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Speaker 1: getting the procedure would be somewhere else. At first, the

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Speaker 1: Janes acted as go betweens, connecting women with doctors who

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Speaker 1: were willing to perform abortions, but soon they began receiving

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Speaker 1: training to perform the procedure themselves. Horowitz said what was

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Speaker 1: unique about the jain collective is that they utilized people

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Speaker 1: who were not formally medically trained and gave them training

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Speaker 1: with a doctor who knew how to do abortions, like

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Speaker 1: an obstetrician or gynecologist. They would teach them how to

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Speaker 1: do proper sanitary abortions because it's really a pretty simple

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Speaker 1: technique and can be taught to people without a formal

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Speaker 1: medical degree. That allowed the Jaines to help even more

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Speaker 1: women and lower the cost of the procedure from five

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Speaker 1: hundred dollars to one hundred dollars. Still, it was a

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Speaker 1: risky enterprise. In nineteen seventy two, seven Janes were arrested

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Speaker 1: and charged. They faced years in prison, but the charges

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Speaker 1: were dropped when Roe v. Wade was decided in nineteen

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Speaker 1: seventy three, before the Janes went to trial. During the

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Speaker 1: course of the collective from its official inception in nineteen

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Speaker 1: sixty nine through its dissolution after Roe v. Wade, around

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Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty members helped provide eleven thousand safe

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Speaker 1: but illegal abortions. In many ways, things are very different

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Speaker 1: for women seeking reproductive care today. Researchers developed medication based

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Speaker 1: abortion in the nineteen eighties, and in the US the

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Speaker 1: Food and Drug Administration approved it in the year two thousand.

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Speaker 1: Unlike these surgical or procedural options that were available in

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Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties, medication abortion can be managed virtually. That is,

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Speaker 1: the pills can be mailed, the patient doesn't need to

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Speaker 1: meet the prescribing health care provider in person. Over four

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Speaker 1: decades of study, scientific evidence has shown medication abortion to

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Speaker 1: be both effective and safe in the overwhelming majority of casees,

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Speaker 1: even self managed ones. In twenty twenty two, the Supreme

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Speaker 1: Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, Women's Health Organization reversed

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Speaker 1: the national Roe v. Wade ruling, and abortion access is

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Speaker 1: now restricted again in many states and is banned in

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Speaker 1: thirteen as of February of twenty twenty six for residents

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Speaker 1: of these states. Obtaining an abortion by traveling to a

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Speaker 1: state where it's legally provided is not a crime, but

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Speaker 1: it can be difficult and there can be legal risks.

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Speaker 1: So the Jane's work to get healthcare to every woman

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Speaker 1: who needs it continues today. Horwitz said the ways that

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Speaker 1: people are connecting and informing themselves about abortion now are

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Speaker 1: through social media instead of the word of mouth and

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Speaker 1: underground magazine route the Jaines used in the early nineteen seventies.

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Speaker 1: But advocacy groups are still doing a great job at

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Speaker 1: spreading the word about why this is such an issue.

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Speaker 1: If you'd like to learn more about the jain collective,

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Speaker 1: a former Jane by the name of Laura Kaplan published

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Speaker 1: a book about it in nineteen ninety seven called The

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Speaker 1: Story of Jane, The Legendary underground Feminist Abortion Service. There's

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Speaker 1: also a feature link documentary called The Janes from twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty two, directed by Oscar nominated filmmakers t Lessen and

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Speaker 1: Emma Pildas, and a historical drama called Call Jane from

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Speaker 1: the same year featuring Elizabeth Banks and Sigourney Weaver. Horowitz

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Speaker 1: said history informs and sometimes guides the present, but our

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Speaker 1: past informs our future. It is definitely important for us

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Speaker 1: to reflect on how things have been historically to try

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Speaker 1: not to make the same mistakes as in the past.

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Speaker 1: If you'd like to learn more about how to access

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Speaker 1: and support legal reproductive healthcare, the websites abortionfinder dot org

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Speaker 1: and repro Legalhelpline dot org both have a lot of

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Speaker 1: information and resources. Today's episode is based on the article

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Speaker 1: when abortion was illegal Women turned to the Jaine Collective

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Speaker 1: on how stuffworks dot com, written by Kate Morgan. Brain

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Speaker 1: Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how stuffworks

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Speaker 1: dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klain. For more

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Speaker 1: podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.