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America’s underground abortion network
After 14 US Republican-majority states immediately enacted strict abortion laws following the overturning of Roe v Wade, an underground network of women began helping people access now-illegal pregnancy terminations.
Published 2 August 2022 3:07pm
By Jennifer Scherer, Darren Mara
Source: SBS
Image: Plan B: Abortion in America. (SBS Dateline/Getty)
Key Points
- An underground network of women began helping people access now-illegal pregnancy terminations.
- It has been more than a month since the US Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 ruling.
In the Republican stronghold of Alabama, the reality of a post-Roe v Wade America has taken hold.
It has been more than a month since the US Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 ruling, which recognised a nationwide right to abortion.
Fourteen states immediately criminalised abortions and in total 26 states are expected to ban or heavily restrict the procedure.
Alabama was one of those states, and only allows abortions in the cases of medical emergency or severe foetal abnormality. No exceptions are made for those who conceived through rape or incest.
Home to 2.5 million women, Alabama is considered by many as the heart of America’s deep south but it’s the country’s fifth poorest state and has one of the nation’s highest infant mortality rates.
The Alabama Women’s Centre in Huntsville was one of only three clinics operating in the state when abortions were still legal. Now, it stands empty.
For the last 10 years, Kathy Zentner has escorted women past very vocal demonstrators into the clinic. She describes the last day the clinic’s doors were open.
“On the last day, every chair was filled,” she tells SBS Dateline.
“I think there were 35 patients scheduled that day.
“I'm sad for the women that can't get the medical care they need.”
Kathy Zentner has escorted women past very vocal demonstrators into the clinic for the last decade. Credit: SBS Dateline.
“They had started medicating her in the morning, so she had to have her abortion that day. And it was about four o'clock in the afternoon when she was finished.
“I walked up to her, put my arm around her … and said, you know, you were the last person in Alabama to get a legal abortion.
“And she goes, 'I know, and I am so grateful.'”
Abortion goes underground
In an undisclosed location in a Republican-majority state, a new movement has begun.
This clandestine group was inspired by ‘The Janes’, an underground network of women operating in the pre-Roe era from 1969-73, who helped people access low-cost and free illegal abortions. They are estimated to have provided help to at least 11,000 people.
Ireland* is part of the new era of ‘Janes’ and is risking everything to subvert this state’s abortion ban.
“There's a saying that I use a lot within our group: 'When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes mandatory' and we are the resistance,” Ireland tells SBS Dateline.
Ireland is part of the new generation of ‘Janes’ and is risking everything to subvert this state’s abortion ban. Credit: SBS Dateline.
The group receives requests from people needing access to an abortion and then, after consultation with medical professionals, provides them with the medication which can medically terminate the pregnancy.
“We have doctors, physicians, assistants, nurses,” Ireland says.
“We source the medications from out of the country.
“They are then sent to us in one of our safe-harbour states. From there, they are forwarded to a number of different places before they finally make it into our hands where we redistribute it and send it back out so that it gets to where it needs to be.”
Protesters take to the Louisiana State Capitol to rally against new abortion law Source: AP
“It's terrifying. It's scary. I have my own family. But I have to do it.”
“We cannot put women back in a place where they're resorting to coat hangers, knitting needles, bleach, turpentine, chemicals -- women are going to die.
“And if I can save or help just one woman, it's completely worth it. And I will do it again over and over and over.”
*Not their real name.
