VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT: RUTH SURGAL – Veteran Feminists of America

THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Ruth Surgal

September 14, 1937 – August 29, 2004

“I went to a meeting of the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union. When they announced the formation of an abortion-counseling service, I saw a chance to put my education in social work to use.”

Social worker. Member of the Abortion Counseling Services of Chicago Women’s Liberation, JANE. Member of the CWLU Herstory Project.

Ruth Surgal from the documentary film “Jane: An Abortion Service,” produced and directed by Kate Kirtz and Nell Lundy, 1995.

More About Ruth:

Obituary, Chicago Tribune
Chicago Women’s Liberation Union Herstory Project
- As a Feminist, This ‘Jane’ Was Far From Plain
- Remembering Ruth Surgal
Chicago’s Forgotten Pro-Choice Warriors
- “Fifty years ago, women who wanted abortions didn’t have many choices — until an underground network of Chicago women gave them another one,” by Marcia Froelke Coburn; illustration by Martin O’Neill, Chicago Magazine, March 19, 2019.
Jane: Documents From Chicago’s Clandestine Abortion Service, 1968-1973
“Jane: An Abortion Service,” produced and directed by Kate Kirtz and Nell Lundy, 1995.
Cited in Barbara Love’s book, Feminists Who Changed America 1963-1975, page 451