In the spring of 1972, police raided an apartment on the South Side of Chicago where seven women who were part of a clandestine network were arrested and charged. Using code names, fronts, and safe houses to protect themselves and their work, the accused had built an underground service for women seeking safe, affordable, illegal abortions. They called themselves “Jane.”

Directed by Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes, The Janes offers first-hand accounts from the women at the center of the group, many speaking on the record for the first time. The Janes tells the story of this group of unlikely outlaws who defied the state legislature that outlawed abortion, the Catholic Church that condemned it, and the Chicago Mob that was profiting from it, and risked their personal and professional lives to help women in need.