Code Name Jane: The

Women Behind a
Covert Abortion
Network
NEW YORK TIMES BY: CLYDE HABERMAN
JACK CERPICH
Summary

 A group, referred to by some as the Jane Collective, operated in

Chicago and carried out thousands of abortions from 1969 to 1973.

 Many of the procedures were performed by medical

nonprofessionals. They may have been the housewife next door, the
college student down the block, or even the local schoolteacher.

 The man’s going rate in the early ’70s went as high as $1,000,
equivalent to about $6,500 today. The Janes dropped the price to
$100, accepting less if the woman had little money.
Summary

 Today, most states require that a licensed doctor prescribe the

drugs. Many even insist that a clinician be physically present when
the medications are taken.

 In 2015 alone, Google had more than 700,000 searches for self-
induced abortions, many of them for ways to “buy abortion pills
online.”
Connections to Class

 “Abortion in America” By: James C. Mohr

 Quickening is the first movement the mother feels of the fetus.
 Between 1800-1825 Young and unmarried women mostly got abortions.
 Between 1840-1880 it was seen to be selfish, fast-living, and unwomanly
to have an abortion.

 The Film “Motherhood by Choice”

 Interviewed different people on how abortion impacted their lives.
 One of the facts stated was “5000 illegal abortions were happening
each year before 1973.”
Bibliography

Haberman, Clyde. “Code Name Jane: The Women Behind a Covert

Abortion Network.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 14 Oct.
2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/10/14/us/illegal-abortion-janes.html.
Questions?