Kimberly Peirce Will Direct Underground Abortion Network Drama “This Is Jane”
Amazon’s abortion drama “This Is Jane” has found its director. “Boys Don’t Cry’s” Kimberly Peirce will helm the film about an underground abortion network in Chicago, which went by the name of “Jane,” Deadline writes.
“This Is Jane” will tell the story of the network’s founder as well as the network itself, a group of self-taught women who provided abortions in Chicago in the pre-Roe v. Wade years. Jane also provided health education and counseling to its patients.
As previously reported, “This Is Jane” is based on Laura Kaplan’s book “The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service.” The film is written by Dan Loflin (“Supernatural”) and is being produced by Peter Heller and John Lesher’s Le Grisbi Productions.
While the current administration is doing everything it can to strip women of their reproductive rights and access to healthcare, there are several projects in the works about the need for safe, legal abortion — and the lengths women will go to when that need isn’t met. Rachel Carey’s “Ask for Jane,” currently in post-production, is also about Chicago’s Jane Collective, as is the Elisabeth Moss-starrer “Call Jane.” And “Harlots” producers Alison Owen and Debra Hayward are developing a film about Roe v. Wade, the historic Supreme Court decision that granted all U.S. women the right to an abortion.
Peirce’s feature directorial debut, “Boys Don’t Cry,” is the true story of Brandon Teena, a young trans man who was murdered in 1993. The film was nominated for an Independent Spirit, won the Satyajit Ray Award and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1999 London Film Festival, and earned lead actress Hilary Swank her first Oscar. Features “Stop-Loss” and “Carrie” and episodes of “The L Word,” “Halt and Catch Fire,” and “I Love Dick” are among Peirce’s other credits.
