‘The Janes’ Directors on “Unimaginable Anger” of Doc’s Underground Abortion Activists as Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade

It was less than four hours after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion in the U.S., when The Hollywood Reporter talked to the directors of underground abortion network documentary The Janes, but to one of the filmmakers, Emma Pildes, that stretch felt like “a lifetime.”

“It just feels like a nightmare but also this weird dream state because I don’t think we’re surprised,” Pildes told THR by phone on Friday. “We’d been so wrapped up in the topic for so long and so hyper-aware of everything that’s going on.”

Pildes and Tia Lessin’s film The Janes, which has been streaming on HBO Max since earlier this month after premiering at Sundance, features firsthand accounts from the women at the center of Jane, a clandestine Chicago group that helped women obtain safe, affordable abortions in the late ’60s and early ’70s when the procedure was a crime in Illinois and other states. Seven of the members of Jane were arrested and charged with abortion and conspiracy to commit abortion after a police raid in 1972, but the case was ultimately dropped after Roe v. Wade made abortion legal nationwide.

The filmmakers began working on the documentary after Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings and were spurred on by various political developments, including former President Donald Trump’s other court appointments, that led them to feel like “Roe was not long for this world,” as Lessin previously told THR.

While the film came out a month after a draft opinion was leaked foreshadowing the court’s ultimate ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Lessin said that she’s now feeling “full of rage,” whereas after the leaked opinion, she was “really sad.”

Pildes, who told THR that earlier Friday she “kept tearing up,” said that as upset as she and Lessin are about the court’s decision, the women behind Jane are probably more enraged.

“They’re pissed! And pissed in a way that transcends our pissed,” Pildes said of how those women have been feeling since the leaked draft opinion. “Because they already did this. They already put themselves on the line.”

Lessin, who was already contemplating what the next “domino to fall” would be, admitted she wasn’t “thinking about filmmaking,” but she was grateful that The Janes had been released and was thinking about how to “get more eyes on” the film. And she hoped that those who encountered the film felt inspired to act.

“We need to speak our voices. We need to take to the streets. We need to let it be known that this cannot stand,” she said.

But Pildes urged those who were outraged to “take a breath” and get organized for a long fight to protect abortion rights.

The filmmakers spoke to THR about their reaction to the Dobbs ruling and what’s next for those who support abortion rights.

Where were you when you heard about the ruling today, and what was your immediate reaction?

Pildes: It feels like it’s been a lifetime since this morning. I can’t even remember. I guess I pulled the headline up on my phone. I don’t think it’s surprising, but it’s still incredibly emotional. I was so surprised to myself [during a previous interview today] that I kept tearing up. I kept trying to keep myself being part of the interview and be coherent and say something useful. Even with how aware we’ve been of everything going on, it’s still emotional knowing how many people are going to suffer and die because of this decision.

Lessin: And how many lives are going to be thwarted. It’s pretty stunning. When I heard about the leak, I was really sad. And today, I’m full of rage, very angry.

Pildes: Maybe that’s a useful thing for us to feel, that rage. We can turn that into action.

Lessin: I’m just reading the decision now, and [Justice Samuel] Alito says that Roe was “egregiously wrong,” and I think what’s egregiously wrong is denying equal rights to people with uteruses. What’s egregiously wrong is confining women to septic abortion wards because they’re so desperate, and they have no choices. What’s egregiously wrong is forcing people across state lines for basic health care.

Pildes: And the court doing it one day after they went above and beyond to further protect gun laws in this country and gun owners. It just feels like a war on women. It just feels so calculated and such a power grab. It’s hard to look at it as a whole, all of these rulings that are coming down. The miscarriage of justice over and over again. The protection of rapists over women that are carrying babies after being raped or gun laws after children are repeatedly killed in schools. It’s unnerving specific to abortion and what our film is about, but it’s terrifying on this much greater level that feels like the fall of our democracy.

Did you think there was any hope or possibility that the Court might rule a different way than they indicated in the leaked draft opinion?

Lessin: It was a done deal. That’s clear. The Supreme Court has been gunning for abortion rights for a while now and they were just waiting for the right composition of the court and they got it. And nothing else has changed except the anti-abortion crusaders have been able to prevail and get extremists on the court that are forcing all of us to live by their biblical interpretations. It’s stunning, but, yes, I think it was a done deal and just as they’ve had voting rights in their crosshairs, the next domino to fall: We’ll see. Marriage equality? Are they going to reinstate the sodomy laws? Are they going to ban contraceptive access for unmarried women? Are they going to prohibit interracial marriage? I mean, the sky is the limit, really.

Have you talked to any of the Janes either today or in the wake of the draft opinion or as you were working on this film and it seemed like Roe‘s time was limited? Have you gotten a sense of how they feel about this or if they are planning to return to activism in some way?

Pildes: A lot of them never stopped. I think many of them have gone on as activists and organizers but also health care workers and doulas and mothers raising moral, decent people to contribute to the world. So they’ve been fighting the good fight all along. I will say what it sounds like [they’ve been feeling] since the leak is freakin’ pissed! Literally, their freedom they put on the line because of the shortcomings of our government and our health care system. And they filled that gap. Some of them were actual, literal teenagers and then they felt settled that Roe had filled that void for them and this wouldn’t be on their shoulders anymore as citizens, where it never should have been in the first place, and went on with their lives. And to feel all of that string of emotion and to put so much on the line and then be back here again, it’s an unimaginable anger, is what it seems like they’re feeling.

Looking forward or right now, speaking to you both as documentary filmmakers, who made this film and so many others, are there stories out there now or that you think will be in this post-Roe world that you want to tell?

Lessin: First of all, I’m really grateful that The Janes is out there in the world right now. And I think the Janes feel that way too. These are their stories and their voices amplified for millions of people to hear. It’s a shocking reminder of what happens when we don’t have federal protection for abortion rights. I don’t think I’m thinking about filmmaking right now. I’m thinking about creating a plaque that says “The Samuel A. Alito Septic Abortion Ward.” I’m thinking about how we can get more eyes on this film simply because I know that people feel inspired by these voices and hopefully they feel motivated to do something.

Is there anything else you want to say to people who are paying attention in the wake of the ruling but may not be tapped into abortion issues otherwise?

Pildes: The thing that I’ve been thinking about since the decision came down this morning is I think it’s so important for people to take a breath and not get overwhelmed because I think it’s so overwhelming and upsetting and scary and you can live in that state and then you become paralyzed. I just keep wanting to say to people, “Take a breath, get organized, do what you can today and then do what you can tomorrow because every little bit helps.” Even if you can’t go march tonight. Maybe you can just have a conversation with a friend. There are so many things that can and need to be done, and becoming paralyzed and overwhelmed with rage, which is so easy to do, is going to create stasis. So just be easy on yourself and be kind and do what you can. There’s a very long road ahead.

Lessin: I think storytellers, filmmakers have a role to play in all of that. We need — especially in this time when truth is so fungible — to use our cameras as weapons and document these times and help make sense of these times for this generation and future generations to come.

Interview edited for length and clarity.