Watch the “Call Jane” trailer to learn more about the courageous women who assisted others in getting abortions prior to Roe v. Wade. Elizabeth Banks and Sigourney Weaver depict the true story.

Hollywood is dramatising the story of the Janes, a group of women who secretly assisted others in obtaining the procedure illegally in 1960s Chicago, in the new film Call Jane, nearly two months after the Supreme Court reversed its 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which had guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion.

 

Tuesday saw the release of the new movie’s trailer, which also stars Sigourney Weaver, Chris Messina, Wunmi Mosaku, and Kate Mara. In it, Banks plays Joy, a woman who is facing an untimely pregnancy. According to the law, she must have the consent of a group of men at a table before getting an abortion. Even though Joy is seated directly in front of them, one of the men asks the others, “Is there a chance that she can survive the pregnancy?” Another responds, “Maybe 50%.” Joy calls the Janes for assistance after they decide she cannot have an abortion.

 

Joy joins the group after having her own encounter with them, but she must keep her membership a secret, including lying to her spouse (Messina) and saying she was in art class when she was actually with the Janes. Later, we see her being questioned by a detective in addition to her husband.

 

The Janes struggle under the pressure from the authorities but are adamant about helping as many people as they can; at one point, the ladies discuss whether to assist an 11-year-old girl, a cancer patient, or a rape victim. There are issues within the group as well, such as when Mosaku’s Gwen, the group’s lone Black member, complains that “Black women always seem to get screwed by economics.”

 

Just two weeks before the contentious verdict was rendered, an HBO documentary titled simply The Janes told the tale of the Janes.

 

“You know, they were really covert and cunning. They were cunning “Before the film’s debut, Tia Lessin, who co-directed it with Emma Pildes, spoke with Yahoo Entertainment. “These women, who were in their 20s and early 30s, had a wide range of skills, including the ability to conceal and defend the women they served while also procuring medical supplies without a licence. The fact that they were all willing to take the chance at such a young age surprises me, I believe. You know, this goes beyond simple civic disobedience.”

 

The director of the fictitious account of the Janes’ life is Phyllis Nagy, whose script for the 2015 film Carol garnered her an Oscar nomination.