Thread by @VICENews

Before Roe v. Wade legalized abortion nationwide in 1973, if you were pregnant and didn’t want to be, you called “Jane”—an underground abortion network in Chicago.
trib.al/hT9ffW7

Between 1969 and 1973, the women who made up Jane performed upwards of 11,000 abortions. We spoke to Laura Kaplan, one of the activists who helped run Jane, about her experience in the network. trib.al/hT9ffW7

“We were committing multiple felonies every day,” Kaplan said. “We're talking serious jail time here—not to mention practicing medicine without a license. But that was minor compared to felony abortion charges.” trib.al/hT9ffW7

Here’s how the process worked: Women called a phone number and left a message for “Jane.” After counseling, they went to a series of Chicago apartments where they waited or got abortions. trib.al/hT9ffW7

“We did them on regular beds, on plastic sheets that we wiped down with alcohol, with surgical equipment, forceps and curettes. We only used local anesthetic.

I would say to women, ‘You could do anything but scream, because we're in an apartment.’” trib.al/hT9ffW7

“All I can think of is how desperate they must have been,” Kaplan said. “They'd heard, ‘You can trust these women.’

“But still, they had in their minds the crumpled bodies in the alleys, the news stories of women who had been butchered.” trib.al/hT9ffW7

“I don't think that can be underestimated, to tell you what lengths women will go to, to do what they feel they must.” trib.al/hT9ffW7

“Women are not going back,” Kaplan said. “I don't know what form the resistance is going to take. But the resistance will be there.”

Read more about Jane here: trib.al/hT9ffW7