The members of "Jane" risked their personal and professional lives to support women with undesired pregnancies, defying the state government that forbade abortion, the Catholic Church that opposed it, and the Chicago Mob that profited from it. In the pre-Roe v. Wade era, when abortion was illegal in most states and even the distribution of information about abortion was a felony in Illinois, the Janes conducted abortions at low or no cost to approximately 11,000 women.