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by
Tom Conners
(Editors note: This
story appeared in the September 6, 1972 edition of the Hyde
Park Herald.) It refers to the 7 Jane members arrested
for performing illegal abortions earlier that year.)
A
case involving seven women suspected of having operated an abortion
service in Hyde Park and South Shore will be heard by a Cook County
grand jury later this month.
The seven defendants are
Susan G., 5342 Harper,
Martha S., 5213 Kenwood,
Sheila S., 5459 Hyde Park Blvd.,
Madeleine S.,6933 Bennett,
Abby G., 47 W. 59th,
Diane S., 820 W. Agatite
and Judy P., 2216 N. Geneva.
The
grand jury will determine whether there is sufficient evidence
to indict all of the women on the charge of conspiracy to commit
abortion.
The
grand jury could also indict five of the defendants on a charge
of abortion.
The
seven women, all of whom are free on bail, were bound over to
the grand jury after a preliminary hearing on the charges August
9.
In
that hearing, testimony was heard from two Chicago policemen and
from two women who said that they went to the defendants for abortions.
One
of the policemen, Harold Huffman, testified about a police stakeout
in Hyde Park that led to the arrest of six of the defendants on
May 3 in an apartment at 7251 South Shore Dr., where the abortions
are alleged to have been performed.
Huffman
said that he sat for several hours in an unmarked police car in
the 5500 block of South Everett after getting a tip that an abortion
service was being run in a building on that block.
During
the stakeout, Huffman said, he saw many women enter the building
at 5532 Everett. At various intervals, he alleged, a group of
women would leave the building, get in a car and drive toward
South Shore.
After
following the women on three occasions, Huffman was able to identify
the 7251 S. Shore dr. building as their destination.
A
short time later, Huffman and other police officers went to the
eleventh floor of the building and arrested all of the defendants
except Ms. G in an apartment on that floor.
Huffman
testified that he went into the apartment’s three bedrooms,
all of which, he said, "were set up like hospital operating
rooms."
He
added that in one of the bedrooms he saw a nude woman lying on
a bed with an icepack on her stomach. In another bedroom he found
a young woman named Gloria W. lying on a bed, according to his
testimony.
Ms.
W. also testified at last month’s preliminary hearing. She
said that she first went to the Everett st. apartment building,
where she saw Ms. G. and where she was given some pills.
Ms.
W. said that she understood the purpose of the pills was "to
prevent infection"‘—presumably referring to an
infection that might result from an abortion operation.
After
she received the pills, Ms. W. said, she was driven to the S.
Shore Dr. building by Ms. P.
If
the county grand jury returns indictments in the case, the defendants
could stand trial on the abortion and conspiracy charges.
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