Ruth Barnett

They Weep On My Doorstep Ruth Barnett

Ruth Barnett became the most notorious abortion provider in Portland, Oregon for a half-century. Her account of those times is honest and revealing about a topic and a practice shrouded in fear and shame. Yet she describes her career as one that brought "much joy along with a full measure of grief." Her contribution is invaluable if only because so little documentation exists of the abortion services from the early to middle decades of the 20th century. They Weep On My Doorstep was published in 1969 at a time when little documentation of early reproductive health services existed. In the 1950s Portland's newspapers frequently splashed sensational headlines about "abortion raids," "police payoffs," "abortion rackets," trials, and jail terms. Barnett often appeared in these stories; she became a target for the city's anti-abortion advocates and law enforcement. Her descriptions of the women she served emphasize that no matter how criminalized abortionbecame, desperate women still sought her services, often "weeping on her doorstep."