Cinema Arts Centre to show ‘Jane: An Abortion Service’

The Island Now

Planned Parenthood is teaming up with Huntington’s Cinema Arts Centre to present the documentary “Jane: An Abortion Service.”

The film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival in 1996 and is a compelling examination of a little-known chapter in women’s history, telling the story of “Jane,” the Chicago-based women’s health group that performed nearly 12,000 safe illegal abortions between 1969 and 1973 with no formal medical training.

As Jane members describe finding feminism and clients describe finding Jane, archival footage and recreations mingle to depict how the repression of the early Sixties and social movements of the late Sixties influenced this unique group. Both a collection of vital knowledge and a meditation on the process of empowerment, this documentary showcases the importance of preserving women’s knowledge in the face of revisionist history.

The Cinema Arts Centre will be showing the documentary on Monday, July 15, at 7:30 p.m. and will also hold a Q&A and reception with guest speakers Abby Pariser, a former member of Jane, and Lauren La Magna, public affairs manager at Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic.

Tickets to the event cost $17 for the general public and $12 for members of the Cinema Arts Centre. For more information, visit www.cinemaartscentre.org.

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