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On June 24\, 2022\, the U.S. Supreme Court voted to overtu
rn Roe v. Wade\, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion in America. The
ruling sparked outrage in a majority of the country. Six weeks after the
SCOTUS decision\, voters in Kansas rejected a constitutional amendment by
59-41% that would have denied the right to an abortion across that state.
But that hasn’t discouraged many states from pushing ahead with various dr
aconian anti-abortion laws that could lead millions of American women to r
eturn to the days of illegal and life-threatening non-medical abortions.\n
Until abortion became legal in 1973\, dangerous abortion procedures
were happening in cities through the country. But in Chicago\, IL\, a gro
up of courageous young women risked their freedom trying to help women des
perately seeking abortions. To shine a light on this issue that is in the
news every day\, the Democrats of the Red Rocks (DORR) Film Club is sponsoring the showing of The Janes a
t the Sedona International Film Festival’s Mary D. Fisher Theatre
on Friday\, May 5 at 4 pm. Tickets for this special event are $15
($13 for SIFF members). There will be a panel discussion and Q & A sessio
n following the film featuring DORR Board and Film Club members.
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<
em>The Janes is a 2022 American documentary film. It premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival in January 2022\, four months before a leaked Supr
eme Court draft opinion for the abortion case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s
Health Organization led to protests by pro-choice advocates across the U.S
.\, and two weeks before SCOTUS overturned Roe. The Janes tells t
he story of how in the spring of 1972\, police raided an apartment on the
South Side of Chicago where seven women who were part of a clandestine net
work were arrested. Using code names\, fronts\, and safe houses to protect
themselves and their work\, this group of unlikely outlaws risked their p
ersonal and professional lives to build an underground service for women s
eeking safe\, affordable\, illegal abortions. They called themselves “Jane
.”
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The Janes offers first-hand accounts from the women at
the center of the group\, many speaking on the record for the first time\
, of how they defied the state legislature that outlawed abortion\, the Ca
tholic Church that condemned it\, and the Chicago Mob that was profiting f
rom it. In the pre-Roe v. Wade era—a time when abortion was a crime in mos
t states and even circulating information about abortion was a felony in I
llinois—the Janes provided low-cost and free abortions to an estimated 11\
,000 women. Time Magazine called the film “essential viewing for
a post-Roe America.” The Atlantic commented that “the lesson from
The Janes is that\, in the absence of justice and political powe
r\, there’s enormous potential for collective action.”
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Click HERE to purchase tickets.
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