The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service in Our Shared Shelf

Jun 05, 2015 Ashley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: history, women-s-studies

To love this book like I did, you must be down with its politics: women have the right to access abortion. Full stop. The women profiled in "The Story of Jane" took on an incredible amount of risk to help women exert control over their lives at a time when both law and culture prevented them from accessing abortion. I fully support that, so I loved this book. It's an inspiring. moving, and terrifying account of how a group of dedicated women came together to challenge laws by arranging and perfo To love this book like I did, you must be down with its politics: women have the right to access abortion. Full stop. The women profiled in "The Story of Jane" took on an incredible amount of risk to help women exert control over their lives at a time when both law and culture prevented them from accessing abortion. I fully support that, so I loved this book. It's an inspiring. moving, and terrifying account of how a group of dedicated women came together to challenge laws by arranging and performing abortions in the years before Roe v. Wade.

Kaplan isn't a professional academic, so at times the history isn't as clear as it could be or some information is repeated much more than needed. Those are minor shortcomings, however. The book as a whole is an inspiring portrait of women who figured out what needed to be done and did it-- imperfectly and with a tremendous amount of risk. As someone born and raised after Roe, I was astounded by the risks that the women of Jane took on! Arrest! Performing abortions without a medical license in apartments! Without an autoclave! I was amazed and moved all at once.

In addition to the stories of individual women, "The Story of Jane" includes a stinging critique of the limitations of Roe v. Wade. Focused as it is on the rights of physicians, the decision failed to bring forth the kind of woman-centered medical practice that Jane envisioned. It probably goes without saying that the decision also allowed states to continue to restrict abortion access in the decades to come.

This book is a must-read for anyone who is pro-choice or an activist for justice and equity. This is especially true given the ways in which the book demonstrates the value of doing work while ALSO working on ideology and political perspectives. As Julia, profiled in the book says, "the practical level was another level down [from the 1960s social movements] and not so interesting. I don't know much about organizing, but I feel as though, if the reality of the situation doesn't change people's heads, then nothing's going to change their heads. Marches and those things are not the work of it. The work of it is whatever the work is" (209). Amen. ...more

5 likes · Like · see review