In 1971, Laura Kaplan joined a clandestine network called "Jane" that provided thousands of illegal abortions in Chicago. With Roe v. Wade on the chopping block, she looks back on those days.
“...nobody remembered or was going to say how that transition from Mike to the women of Jane performing abortions themselves happened. But I think the point at which Jody was already learning was the point at which the larger group was informed that Mike was not a doctor. Because I think in her mind, she thought, if people are going to accept that we can do this ourselves, first they have to accept that the person we’ve been relying on — who’s extremely competent, and we have nothing but glowing reports from GYNs with post-abortion checkups — that he’s not a doctor. And in fact, at that meeting, it was like an explosion. People were flipping out. One woman said, “Well, if he can do it, and he’s not a doctor, then we can do it, too. And we could charge a whole lot less.”
“What we did was so exhilarating on some level. When you go through the mirror, when you break that barrier, the whole world changes. Plus, we were solving women’s real problems multiple times a day, 30 times every workday. It was real satisfaction, and a real sense of accomplishment and that we were doing the right thing.”
Also the fact that referrals were coming from professional doctors and police officers. These women are legendary. “Don’t mourn, organize.”