Women wait in waiting room of an abortion clinic filling out applications
INTRODUCTION
The Abortion Counseling Service of Women’s Liberation, formally known as the Jane Collective, was an underground organization established in the late 60s, as a response to the lack of safe abortion procedures available for the comman woman, along with a lack of access to necessary reproductive education and bith control. It began as a referral service, but eventually evolved into a "back alley" abortion clinic.
"Between 200,000 and 1.2 million illegal abortions took place annually in the two decades before Roe v. Wade legalized the procedure nationwide."
-Guttmacher Institute
THESIS
Although the Jane Collective performed highly illegal abortion procedures, they led a radical movement that pioneered the reproductive rights movement, and broke the physical and ideological barriers surrounding abortion policy. "Jane" made significant strides towards providing accessible abortions for all women.
“Jane stands as a case study in both the making and using of second-wave feminist history."
~ UChicago Journals