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The Abortionist: A Woman against the Law
Prior to Roe v. Wade, hundreds of thousands of illegal abortions occurred in the United States every year. Rickie Solinger uses the story of Ruth Barnett, an abortionist in Portland, Oregon, between 1918 and 1968 to demonstrate that it was the law, not so-called back-alley practitioners, that most endangered women's lives in the years before abortion was legal.
Women from all walks of life came to Ruth Barnett to seek abortions. For most of her career she worked in a proper suite of offices, undisturbed by legal authorities. In her years of practice she performed forty thousand abortions and never lost a patient. But in the anti-abortion fervor of the post-World War II era, conditions in Portland and elsewhere began to change. Barnett and other practitioners were hounded by the police and became convenient targets for politicians and sensation-hungry journalists. Desperate women continued to seek abortions but were forced to turn to profiteering abortion syndicates run by racketeers or to use self-induced methods that often ended in serious injury or death. Solinger makes vivid use of newspaper accounts and extant legal transcripts to document how throughout the country laws were used to persecute competent abortion practitioners.
While Roe v. Wade has alleviated some of the danger that shaped women's lives before 1973, Solinger points out that the abortion practitioner is again threatened in the United States, this time by the violence of anti-choice fanatics. Her book is an instructive reminder of the vigilance necessary to protect both women and those who would provide them with freedom of choice.
Women from all walks of life came to Ruth Barnett to seek abortions. For most of her career she worked in a proper suite of offices, undisturbed by legal authorities. In her years of practice she performed forty thousand abortions and never lost a patient. But in the anti-abortion fervor of the post-World War II era, conditions in Portland and elsewhere began to change. Barnett and other practitioners were hounded by the police and became convenient targets for politicians and sensation-hungry journalists. Desperate women continued to seek abortions but were forced to turn to profiteering abortion syndicates run by racketeers or to use self-induced methods that often ended in serious injury or death. Solinger makes vivid use of newspaper accounts and extant legal transcripts to document how throughout the country laws were used to persecute competent abortion practitioners.
While Roe v. Wade has alleviated some of the danger that shaped women's lives before 1973, Solinger points out that the abortion practitioner is again threatened in the United States, this time by the violence of anti-choice fanatics. Her book is an instructive reminder of the vigilance necessary to protect both women and those who would provide them with freedom of choice.
265 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 30, 2019
The true story of Ruth Barnett, a Portland Oregon abortionist in the times before Roe v Wade made abortion legal. This book also tells of the corruption rackets that ran some of the illegal abortion practices, and about the police crack downs on abortion clinics. It is important to see how things were when abortion was "illegal", and how any women still had abortions even though it was "illegal". Being illegal just made it more dangerous for all.
May 11, 2023
read this for school - an interesting & important part of history, but not the biggest fan of the writing style.
February 23, 2008
Full title: The Abortionist: A Woman Against the Law. Nonfiction, about abortion practitioners in the US from the 1920s to the 1960s, before Roe v. Wade. Solinger focused on one woman practitioner in particular, Ruth Barnett, who operated on possibly a hundred thousand women over forty years and never lost a patient. Solinger also gave a really good idea of what those years were like, for women seeking abortions and for the medical practitioners who broke the law and provided abortions.
I'm really glad I read this book, because I honestly didn't know anything about the history of abortion before Roe. It's worth knowing about. I would recommend this book to dedicated pro-choice readers.
I'm really glad I read this book, because I honestly didn't know anything about the history of abortion before Roe. It's worth knowing about. I would recommend this book to dedicated pro-choice readers.
February 7, 2010
Captivating book. This is a woman who had an abortion and decides to work in that field in Portland, OR. The history of abortions and the laws on abortion is not what you think. It profiles how abortionists worked their trade without hiding for many years and how the underworld took advantage of the situation. Women getting pregnant during war time and non-existant birth control drove the issues. Whether or not you agree with abortion, this is a must-read. The aborionist also wrote her own book, "They weep on my doorstep". And those of you who know Portland, she worked for a while out of the Nordstrom building downtown.
February 9, 2015
i found this book fascinating. ruth barnett was an abortionist in portland, oregon where i grew up. the important and powerful brought pregnant wives and girlfriends to her doorsteps, and then were instrumental in throwing her in prison. this is part of a history of abortion that happened before i knew anything about the subject. abortion has been a political football and subject to the whims of the politicians and the public behind them.
November 19, 2024
I enjoyed this book a lot. It is informative, engaging, and well-written. The first time I read it, I had a very emotional response to it and struggled to see it from more of an objective perspective. The election was still hitting me hard. I re-read it this weekend and was able to look at it in a broader sense. By framing the novel around Ruth Barnett, Salinger is able to provide a compelling narrative that illustrated wider issues surrounding abortion.
If you look at this book as a story, I would say that Ruth Barnett is definitely the main character. Ruth is an empathetic, passionate abortionist who cares about her patients and also enjoys the benefits that the money provides. I found her relationship with her daughter deeply fascinating. It was a loving relationship but also a somewhat unbalanced one, as Maggie suffered in college due to her mother’s occupation and was finically dependent on her later in life.
I think the antagonist, the villain, would be the law. This book illustrates that anti-abortion laws not only failed in their intent, but also failed to protect women. By continuing to perform abortions even after being jailed, Barnett defied the law.
Solinger also explores the dehumanizing experiences women had in abortion trials. The courtrooms of the 1950’s all had an “atmosphere dense with sex and smut, and with notions about women that could have stimulated misogyny in even the most generous-minded observer.” The motive of many of these trials was to enforce societal binaries of mens right’s to govern women’s bodies and women’s inherent vulnerability. Many female abortionist trials — like Ruth’s — involved pitting women against each other. As seen by the case of Ann Kelly, women were forced to recount in detail their sexual experiences and examinations. Ann Kelly was framed by Ruth’s lawyer as a fallen women, and by the persecution as Ruth’s victim. Ann Kelly’s private experiences and affairs were continuously exposed to everyone in the court room, her dignity and Ruth’s both fatally battered. Even before entering the court room, Ann Kelly was already judged by the standards of the day.
Another antagonist in this book comes in the form of the ruthless opportunist Reginald Rankin, who built an illegal abortion syndicate through manipulation and intimidation. He is a “businessman, not an abortionist,” was motivated by a desire for power and money, not through sympathy for women. His cruelty is seen in a scene where he has successfully manipulated and threatened abortionist Laura Miner into reluctantly joining his syndicate, in his aim to have a monopoly on abortionists across the region. When she gives up resisting him, he says to her, “That's a good girl. You know, if you’d said otherwise, I planned to have you run out of town.” Rankin is characterized as a man who is willing to do anything to get what he wants and seems to even enjoy being cruel. Calling skilled abortionist Laura Miner a “good girl” shows his lack of respect for women.
Solinger mentions the myth of the dangerous back-alley abortionist and how this device is used in courtrooms to paint all abortionists as dangerous and sinister. Barnett herself also shows dislike of these abortionists, saying “those contemptible back-alley abortionists who prey on women…I have nothing but contempt for them.” The repetition of the word contempt shows her disdain. She also wants to separate herself from the Hollywood images of an abortionist who practices in dismal rooms, dark alleys, or decrepit shacks. Her office is a “bright, cheerful place.” Magggie describes it as a “There was a hoity-toity service kind of thing. It wasn’t like a hospital. It was like going up to a very nice atmosphere where people waited on you hand and foot: can I get you a cup of coffee? Can I get you a hot tea? How do you feel, dearie?” Ruth Barnett, the “queen of abortionists in the Pacific Northwest, possibly anywhere,” made her practice homey and clean. The personality of her office can also be compared to the lack thereof in Rankin’s offices, which were all identical; the same furniture, tools, and surgical and clerical procedures.
One of the most striking aspect of this novel were the short but specific examples of self-abortion. Desperate women tried “quinine pills, ergot tablets, soaps, hot mustard baths, tansy ta, turpentine capsules, douches, slippery elm…and…throwing themselves from high places.” One women even inserted a penknife up her vagina. These details are not lingers on, yet the message is clear; women without access to safe abortions will take whatever actions they deem necessary to prevent the birth of a child. This fact hits particularly hard after Donald Trumps win in the recent presidential election. Project 2025, a right wing initiative shaped by allies of Trump called for the president to severely restrict abortion. Women will attempt self-abortion and harm themselves, even possibly to the point of death, if he indeed follows the projects plan and restricts abortion.
If you look at this book as a story, I would say that Ruth Barnett is definitely the main character. Ruth is an empathetic, passionate abortionist who cares about her patients and also enjoys the benefits that the money provides. I found her relationship with her daughter deeply fascinating. It was a loving relationship but also a somewhat unbalanced one, as Maggie suffered in college due to her mother’s occupation and was finically dependent on her later in life.
I think the antagonist, the villain, would be the law. This book illustrates that anti-abortion laws not only failed in their intent, but also failed to protect women. By continuing to perform abortions even after being jailed, Barnett defied the law.
Solinger also explores the dehumanizing experiences women had in abortion trials. The courtrooms of the 1950’s all had an “atmosphere dense with sex and smut, and with notions about women that could have stimulated misogyny in even the most generous-minded observer.” The motive of many of these trials was to enforce societal binaries of mens right’s to govern women’s bodies and women’s inherent vulnerability. Many female abortionist trials — like Ruth’s — involved pitting women against each other. As seen by the case of Ann Kelly, women were forced to recount in detail their sexual experiences and examinations. Ann Kelly was framed by Ruth’s lawyer as a fallen women, and by the persecution as Ruth’s victim. Ann Kelly’s private experiences and affairs were continuously exposed to everyone in the court room, her dignity and Ruth’s both fatally battered. Even before entering the court room, Ann Kelly was already judged by the standards of the day.
Another antagonist in this book comes in the form of the ruthless opportunist Reginald Rankin, who built an illegal abortion syndicate through manipulation and intimidation. He is a “businessman, not an abortionist,” was motivated by a desire for power and money, not through sympathy for women. His cruelty is seen in a scene where he has successfully manipulated and threatened abortionist Laura Miner into reluctantly joining his syndicate, in his aim to have a monopoly on abortionists across the region. When she gives up resisting him, he says to her, “That's a good girl. You know, if you’d said otherwise, I planned to have you run out of town.” Rankin is characterized as a man who is willing to do anything to get what he wants and seems to even enjoy being cruel. Calling skilled abortionist Laura Miner a “good girl” shows his lack of respect for women.
Solinger mentions the myth of the dangerous back-alley abortionist and how this device is used in courtrooms to paint all abortionists as dangerous and sinister. Barnett herself also shows dislike of these abortionists, saying “those contemptible back-alley abortionists who prey on women…I have nothing but contempt for them.” The repetition of the word contempt shows her disdain. She also wants to separate herself from the Hollywood images of an abortionist who practices in dismal rooms, dark alleys, or decrepit shacks. Her office is a “bright, cheerful place.” Magggie describes it as a “There was a hoity-toity service kind of thing. It wasn’t like a hospital. It was like going up to a very nice atmosphere where people waited on you hand and foot: can I get you a cup of coffee? Can I get you a hot tea? How do you feel, dearie?” Ruth Barnett, the “queen of abortionists in the Pacific Northwest, possibly anywhere,” made her practice homey and clean. The personality of her office can also be compared to the lack thereof in Rankin’s offices, which were all identical; the same furniture, tools, and surgical and clerical procedures.
One of the most striking aspect of this novel were the short but specific examples of self-abortion. Desperate women tried “quinine pills, ergot tablets, soaps, hot mustard baths, tansy ta, turpentine capsules, douches, slippery elm…and…throwing themselves from high places.” One women even inserted a penknife up her vagina. These details are not lingers on, yet the message is clear; women without access to safe abortions will take whatever actions they deem necessary to prevent the birth of a child. This fact hits particularly hard after Donald Trumps win in the recent presidential election. Project 2025, a right wing initiative shaped by allies of Trump called for the president to severely restrict abortion. Women will attempt self-abortion and harm themselves, even possibly to the point of death, if he indeed follows the projects plan and restricts abortion.
June 16, 2020
I enjoyed the second half of the book more than the first, but overall was an interesting portrayal and dive into the life and practice of Ruth Barnett, an abortion provider for nearly 50 years in Portland, OR, who served women seeking illegal abortions.
I got lost some in the description of all the different abortion providers and their connections to Rankin and the abortion syndicate, but greatly appreciated learning about a woman of resolute conviction and courage, recognizing the needs of women and the immorality of the law, providing an incredible service to a massive number of women.
I got lost some in the description of all the different abortion providers and their connections to Rankin and the abortion syndicate, but greatly appreciated learning about a woman of resolute conviction and courage, recognizing the needs of women and the immorality of the law, providing an incredible service to a massive number of women.
April 11, 2024
i loved loved loved this book!! i had to read it for my abortion class. while it is pretty subjective, it gives a comprehensive view of the illegal era of abortion from the 1930s to the 1960s via a case study on Ruth. by focusing on ruth and then sometimes mentioning the names or situations of other abortionists, you're able to really connect with ruth and at the same time understand the national climate. also do genuinely feel like I could perform an abortion after all of the readings for this class (but don't worry texas I wont)
July 7, 2020
A history of abortion in mid-century America, shaped by the life and times of a Portland-based doctor, Ruth Bartlett, who prided herself in her work and enjoyed the extravagant things in life. The book does go into detail about abortion syndicates, but most of the story focuses on Dr. Bartlett and how public opinion on the enforcement of abortion laws — and the role of women in general — radically changed around 1950.
There’s some uncomfortable descriptions of abortion trials in the last quarter of the book, including how the women who sought them out were treated in court. This book also had the unexpected side effect of making me hate Red Clocks even more than I already do.
There’s some uncomfortable descriptions of abortion trials in the last quarter of the book, including how the women who sought them out were treated in court. This book also had the unexpected side effect of making me hate Red Clocks even more than I already do.
November 17, 2022
So informative and informed, and passionate. This was a valuable read especially at the end of my course where I already have a solid foundation in the history of abortion in america. This book focuses a lot on how law, not abortion, endangers women the most. Especially chilling to read the ending from where we are today. I enjoyed viewing the 1900s era of abortion control thru the lens of Ruth Barnett, who is such an icon and inspiration.
Her story reminded me a lot of Evelyn Hugo actually!
Her story reminded me a lot of Evelyn Hugo actually!
June 10, 2020
If able, read the 25th anniversary episode! The new last chapter was fantastic and added fuel to my intersectional fire. The whole story was amazing and Ruth Barnett is just a phenomenal woman that deserves more space in history.
October 1, 2025
GREAT BOOK FOR HISTORICAL REFERENCE
I learned a lot from reading this book. I learned that actions have outcomes. Everyone needs to think hard before they act, or they may have to pay a high price for their actions.
I learned a lot from reading this book. I learned that actions have outcomes. Everyone needs to think hard before they act, or they may have to pay a high price for their actions.
October 22, 2015
I actually liked this book, for the most part, but I was led to believe that this would be a book about a female abortionist; what I read was a book mostly devoted to the *era* in which she practiced. I really wanted to get to know Ruth as a person, not just Ruth as abortionist. This book doesn't give you too many glimpses of her life - the majority of this "biography" is about abortion syndicates and trials. I would be tempted to read her daughter's memoir (autobiography?) but if it's written the way she's quoted in the book, I doubt I'd read the whole thing.
October 25, 2024
It's a fantastic overview of the life and career of Ruth Barnett -- it's also a fantastic proof of how men are terrible and capitalism ruins everything.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews