There’s been a lot of discussion of Roe vs Wade this year, with the US Supreme Court controversially overturning the decision nearly half a century after it was made. Henceforth, each American state is free to decide whether abortion is legal or not, to the despair of many women’s rights supporters.

But if we go back to 1960s America, abortion was illegal pretty much everywhere and treated as equivalent to homicide, from a legal perspective at least. In many places, birth control was prohibited for unmarried women. Things were gradually changing, with some states reforming their antiabortion laws. But a group of women known as the Jane Collective weren’t waiting around for that to happen. They took matters into their own hands, literally!

Who were these women and how did the group start out? Were they the only ones performing illegal abortions? Didn’t the authorities clamp down on their activities? ⁠In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions !⁠

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A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance

First Broadcast: 19/9/2022

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