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Heather Booth  

Civil Rights Activist, Feminist & Political Strategist

Heather Booth is a strategist known for her contributions to progressive issue and electoral campaigns. She began her career as an organizer in the civil rights, anti-Vietnam War and women’s movements of the 1960s and has continued to drive change through the present day. One of Booth's early significant contributions was the creation of JANE, an underground abortion service that began its operations before Roe v. Wade was enacted.

Booth founded and served as President of the Midwest Academy, an institution dedicated to training leaders and organizers for social change. She has taken on numerous roles in political campaigns and served as the Training Director of the Democratic National Committee. In 2000, Booth took up the Directorship of the NAACP National Voter Fund, a role in which she helped increase African American election turnout by nearly 2 million voters. In 2005, she was the lead consultant directing the foundation of the Campaign for Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

In 2008 and 2009, Booth directed impactful campaigns in health and finance sectors, leading the Health Care Campaign for the AFL-CIO and the campaign passing President Obama’s first budget, respectively. In 2010, she was the founding director of Americans for Financial Reform, advocating for the regulation of the financial industry. Booth's influence extends to social issues as well; she served as the National Coordinator for the coalition around marriage equality leading up to the 2013 Supreme Court decision. She also provided strategic advice to the Alliance for Citizenship, the most extensive coalition of the immigration reform campaign. In her role as Field Director for Americans for Tax Fairness, Booth worked to prevent tax cuts for millionaires that could potentially lead to reductions in Medicare, Medicaid, and education.

In addition to these accomplishments, Booth has a strong presence in the media. She has been featured in numerous documentary films and television programs, such as the 2016 documentary by Lilly Rivlin, "Heather Booth: Changing the World." Her activism and political strategies have also garnered attention on podcast platforms. Booth's work has been pivotal in multiple social movements over the decades, including the Freedom Summer project in 1964, feminist advocacy starting in 1965, and the establishment of the Chicago Women's Liberation Union (CWLU) in 1969.

Booth has been recognized for her contributions with multiple awards, including the Thomas-Debs Award from the Democratic Socialists of America in 1987, and the Victoria J. Mastrobuono Women's Health Award from the National Organization for Women in 2013. Most recently, in March 2022, she received the Raphael Lemkin Human Rights Award from T'ruah, the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. She continues to contribute her expertise as a member of Democracy Partners, a group of political consultants.

Speech Topics

Advancing Reproductive Freedom: The Story of JANE, an Underground Abortion Service

Heather Booth created an underground abortion service before Roe v. Wade, called JANE (because at the time three people talking about providing an abortion was a conspiracy to commit a felony). Between 1965 and 1973, the women of JANE themselves performed 11,000 abortions. There is a documentary about this called The Janes, that was short listed for an Academy Award. This talk is often accompanied by a screening of the film (or showing the trailer).

Jewish Social Justice

In US history, Jewish and Social Justice were for many years were so intertwined as to be almost synonymous. Then there was a nearly 30 year lacunae or hiatus. There is now a flourishing of Jewish social justice. Heather Booth will describe the social forces at work in this change and her own involvement in this transformation and underscore what a precious legacy this is, not to be taken for granted and how it must be cultivated.

If We Organize, We Can Change the World!

We are on a knife’s edge about the options for the future—freedom/democracy or tyranny/authoritarian rule. But we can make the future we want to see, if we organize with love at the center of our actions. We have seen this before. Speaking from personal history, Booth will recount various struggles that have led to victories, often against the odds.

  • From the civil rights movement—when terror reigned in many areas, but Civil Rights legislation became the law of the land;
  • From women’s reproductive freedom struggle—organizing the underground women’s network called JANE, providing 11,000 abortions before Roe became the law (and now the subject of an HBO documentary “The Janes,” and a narrative film “Call Jane” starring Signourney Weaver and Elizabeth Banks)
  • Engaging in a variety of other issues from health care, marriage equality, immigration, financial reform, tax fairness, to negotiating on prescription drug prices and preserving Social Security

This session will have time for conversation, Q&A, with applications for what we can do today. (This session will have a short power point that will need tech set up.)

News

The abortion underground and what lessons can be learned from the Jane Collective
In the likelihood that Roe v. Wade is overturned, Heather Booth, the founder of the Jane Collective, has two pieces of advice: "We need to come together. We need to organize."

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