“The Janes” is HBO’s candid talking heads documentary that provides a brief history of Jane Collective, a secret abortion group that was active in Chicago in the late 1960s and early 70s.
The Roe v. Wade case, a 1973 Supreme Court ruling to protect women’s right to abortion, had not yet been inherited. ) Or rely on dangerous methods to self-induce abortion.
This situation, and the motivation of the times cultivated by the civil rights and women’s liberation movement, has driven Jane’s members into action.
The documentary, directed by Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes, relies primarily on testimony from female volunteers from Jane Collective, an effort from the beginning when the group was just a referral service to the last day of fighting law enforcement. I’m following.
Eventually, Jane Collective provided nearly 11,000 abortions by the time the Roe v. Wade case came into force, at which point the group was inactive. (The new promotion of today’s restrictive abortion law, and the report of the current Supreme Court’s ruling on a case that could overturn Law, casts a sense of dark uncertainty on the other triumphant conclusions of the film. increase.)
It’s a cookie cutter, but there’s something in “The Janes”. Former Janes, the interviewee, all talk about their beliefs and share the past in a surprisingly clear way. They said their job, their commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of other women, was not so radical in practice and was measured for the inadequacy of the system that refused to protect itself. It reminds me that it was a good response.
Janes
Unrated. Execution time: 1 hour 41 minutes. Watch on the HBO platform.