Radio Topia.

From PRX.

From PRX's Radiotopia, this is Radio Diaries.

I'm Joe Richmond.

Good evening.

Tonight, the subject of abortion.

The illegal termination of pregnancy has reached epidemic proportions in this country.

Abortion is one of the most divisive issues in American

life in politics. Forty-five years after Roe v. Wade, our country is still split. It's easy to

forget that it wasn't that long ago when abortions were illegal everywhere in the United States.

The conflict between the law and reality has resulted in a national dilemma. Abortion will continue to be a critical

problem, and for those involved may call for desperate decisions that result in dangerous medical

complications. That's Walter Cronkite, speaking on CBS in 1965. That same year, an underground network

formed in Chicago to help women who wanted to have abortions.

At first, they connected women with doctors willing to break the law to perform the procedure.

Eventually, women in the collective trained to perform abortions themselves.

Today on the Radio Diaries podcast, The Story of Jane.

And a heads up, there's some parts of this story that listeners may find

disturbing. My name is Winette Willis. When I was 23 years old, I was a single mom, and I became

pregnant. It terrified me, the thought of having another kid by myself. I think I was kind of

desperate, actually. I remember being on an L, on a train platform and seeing a sign. And the sign

said, pregnant, and it was a question mark.

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