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The Story of Jane recounts the evolution of the Abortion Counseling Service, code name Jane, the underground group of heroic women that provided low-cost abortion services in Chicago in the years before the procedure was legalized. Organized in 1969 and active until the opening of the first legal abortion clinics in 1973, Jane initially counseled women and referred them to abortion providers who set prices and conditions. As Jane grew, so did the group’s capacity to protect its clients. Eventually, determined to reclaim women’s reproductive power in any way they were able, many members of Jane learned to perform abortions themselves.
An extraordinary history by one of Jane’s members, The Story of Jane is an urgent account of the organization’s development, the conflicts within the group, and the impact its work had on both the women it helped and the members themselves.
