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WEKU
WEKU
National
Fernando Alfonso III

The abortion underground and what lessons can be learned from the Jane Collective

Activist Heather Booth and the Jane Collective, an underground abortion service, provided thousands of women with abortions before Roe v. Wade. Here, she speaks in 2015 during the memorial service for civil rights leader Julian Bond. (Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP)

What Sunny Chapman experienced roughly 53 years ago in a secret Chicago apartment while blindfolded exemplifies what life was like for women seeking an abortion before Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling guaranteeing the right to the procedure.

It was 1969 and Chapman needed an abortion. The then-19-year-old activist had been working for the Chicago Seed, an underground newspaper, when she spotted an ad that said "Pregnant? Need Help? Call Jane."

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