“Pregnant? Don’t want to be? Call Jane.”
Before the Supreme Court voted to legalize abortion with ‘Roe vs. Wade’ in 1973, abortions were being conducted illegally all over the country resulting in injuries or death. Luckily, for those who didn’t want to be pregnant in Chicago, there was an underground feminist abortion service going by the name Jane. And now, thanks to Amazon, the story of Jane is coming to the big screen with Academy Award-nominee Michelle Williams to star.
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The service was started with Heather Booth, then a 19-year-old student at the University of Chicago, in 1965. Her friend’s sister was pregnant and wanted an abortion so Booth found a doctor who was willing to perform the procedure secretly. At first, The Jane Collective connected women with doctors. However, after a while, the group’s members started performing abortions themselves and grew into an all-women network with dozens of members, ranging from students to housewives, who helped more than 11,000 women by providing safe abortions, health education, and counseling.
The new film will be based on Laura Kaplan’s nonfiction book “The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service,” according to Deadline. The project, titled “This Is Jane,” will star Michelle Williams as the Jane founder ‘Jenny.’ With the success of the #MeToo movement and the political conversation circling abortion again, we don’t think this project could have come at a more perfect time.
“This Is Jane” will be directed by Kimberly Peirce with the screenplay written by Daniel Loflin. Peirce is probably best known for her debut film, “Boys Don’t Cry,” which earned Hillary Swank an Oscar. John Lesher, Williams and Peter Heller are producing. Williams can currently be seen in “I Feel Pretty,” alongside Amy Schumer and opposite Tom Hardy in the ‘Spider-Man’ spinoff “Venom,” which opens October 5.
The release date for “This is Jane” is still yet to be determined.