Looking for Jane

Abortion was legalized in Canada in 1988 with the Supreme Court’s decision in R v. Morgentaler. Dr. Henry Morgentaler, an advocate for abortion rights, brought the case before the Canadian Supreme Court after many years of regional legal battles. Grassroots activism also helped ensure the victory. The “Abortion Caravan,” which the novel depicts, was a series of 1970 protests that culminated in demonstrations before the Parliament buildings in Ottawa; protesters also delivered a symbolic coffin to the home of then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Furthermore, while the Jane Network in Looking for Jane is fictional, it is based on a composite of abortion “whisper networks” that existed in Canada as well as the US, primarily during the 1960s and 1970s. Notably, the Abortion Counseling Service of Women’s Liberation, based out of Chicago, Illinois, was known as “Jane.” Dr. Morgentaler himself is also a minor character in Looking for Jane; Evelyn trains with him when she decides that she’d like to provide underground abortions to women.

As Looking for Jane suggests, the campaign for abortion rights took place amid a broader struggle for reproductive justice. St. Agnes’s Home for Unwed Mothers is a fictional location, but it is based on actual maternity homes that were funded by the Canadian government and religious organizations.