Jane Abortion Collective Oral History Collection

An inventory of its records at the University of Illinois at Chicago

Administrative History of the Jane Abortion Collective

The Abortion Counseling Service of Women's Liberation (ACS), unofficially known as "Jane," formally organized in Chicago in 1969, when abortions were illegal in Illinois and throughout most of the United States. Its aim was to counsel women and assist them in receiving safe abortions. Many of the members had been assisting women locate abortion services since the mid-1960s. Initially Jane volunteers screened underground abortionists, attempting to ensure that they were competent and reliable. Frustrated by this process the group soon learned how to perform abortions themselves. They only charged women for the costs involved and preformed the services without charge if the woman was unable to pay.

In the fall of 1969 approximately 100 feminists formed the Chicago Women's Liberation Union. After some discussion it made ACS a member and work group of the union.

The organization operated until the spring of 1973 when legal abortion clinics opened in Illinois after the United States Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision made abortions legal during the first two trimesters of a woman's pregnancy.

Scope and Contents

The papers consist of transcriptions of interviews conducted by UIC Sociology Professor Pauline Bart circa 1980 with members of the Chicago Jane Abortion Collective. The interviews include an incomplete history of the organization, the interviewees' personal experiences as members, and their perspective of some of the internal and external issues the organization faced. They roughly cover the period from 1965 to 1973. Not all the transcriptions are complete.

Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

These interviews are restricted: names of individuals cannot be recorded or used by the patron and the material cannot be photocopied.

Detailed Description/Box and Folder Listing