Before Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, Chicago women in need of abortions had exactly two options: they could navigate a murky underworld dominated by often exploitative and amateur male clinicians, or attempt procedures on themselves. In either case, they faced a lonely and often dangerous process typically devoid of both counseling services and accountability for abortion providers.
The collective’s female members “realized that if an unlicensed man could successfully perform safe abortions, then so could they,” Sollenberger says. “A few volunteers shadowed the procedure several times [and] illegally obtained medical equipment from doctors—often men in solidarity with the cause.”
