Ruth Barnett

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Ruth Barnett was an abortionist operating in Portland, Oregon from 1918 to 1968.^[1] She went by the nickname "Dr. Ruth", and because she was a trained naturopath, she was legally entitled to use the title, "doctor".^[2] Since her clinic advertised that it treated only "diseases of women", the fact that all her patients were female was not in itself enough to draw undue attention.^[2] She performed an estimated 40,000 abortions and claimed no maternal deaths.^[1]

Barnett co-authored an autobiography, They Weep on My Doorstep, in which she indicated that she performed abortions on as many as fifty women a day.^[2]

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} Rickie Solinger, The Abortionist: A Woman against the Law, University of California Press, publisher's synopsis
2. ^ ^{a b c} Kerry Donaghue and Cathy Ramey, "Getting Away With Murder -- Ruth Barnett and the Illegal Abortion Trade -- Part I", Life Advocate, 1997