Marie Leaner is in her 80s now. But back in the late 60s and early 70s, she was one of the few Black members of the Jane Collective - offering her apartment to run a clandestine abortion network on Chicago’s South Side.
Leaner, also known for being a paralegal for Black Panther Bobby Seale, joined the network as a continuation of her work in social justice. Poor, Black patients needed the Janes for affordable, safe healthcare. Their other option? Dying from back-alley procedures.
Still, Leaner faced criticism for her role in the movement. Many Black activists were heavily anti-abortion, associating the procedure with “genocide.” “Some family member thought I was doing all this stuff because I wanted to be white,” she remembered. “I’m like, ‘Excuse me?’” But she held her own.
Risking ostracization and jail time, the collective performed 11,000 illegal abortions in five years before Roe v. Wade. Not a single patient died. Today, as history repeats itself, pregnancy-related deaths are 3x more likely for Black people.
“I could have been arrested,” Leaner said. “But I could’ve cared less.”
Leaner’s work and wisdom remind us how it can pay off to stand up for liberation - no matter the pushback. “This was an opportunity to define who I was as a person,” she declared. “What do I stand for?”