Ruth Barnett

Ruth Hanna was born in 1895 in Hood River, Oregon.[1] She was the youngest of three children born to Margaret Belle Hanna and James Ellsworth Hanna. In 1910, Barnett moved with her family to Portland, Oregon. There her father became the first grocer in the village, and Ruth got a job as a dental assistant.[1] In 1911, at the age of 16, Ruth became pregnant. Unsure what to do, she was referred to Dr. George Watts by a patient in her dental clinic.[1] Dr. Watts, a respected physician in the area, performed an abortion on Ruth, and the experience profoundly changed her life. Saved from the shame of bearing an illegitimate child, she came out of the operation with a conviction that anyone who needed an abortion ought to be able to receive one.[2]

Two years later, Ruth married Henry Cohen at eighteen years old. Their marriage was largely unhappy and lasted only five years, but resulted in the birth of Ruth's daughter, Maggie.[1] Through this marriage, Ruth met and befriended Dr. Alys Bixby Griff. Griff was one of the first female physicians in the Pacific Northwest, and she was beginning to specialize in abortions when she met Ruth.[4] Throughout the course of their friendship, Ruth would visit Griff, listening attentively to the stories she told about her practice. Following Ruth's divorce from Cohen, she decided to pursue a career as an abortionist with the help of Dr. Griff.[2]

At the age of 23, Ruth began working for Dr. Griff as an assistant.[4] They worked closely for eleven years, with Griff allowing Ruth to stand in during operations to learn abortion techniques.[1] Eventually Ruth was able to perform the operations herself, concluding that this was her life's work.[1] Ruth parted uneasily with Alys eleven years later, partly due to growing disagreements about Ruth's role in the practice.[1] Hoping to strike out on her own, she opened a small business that ultimately failed. That same year, she began to collaborate with Dr. George Watts, the same physician who gave her an abortion in 1911.[1] Not only did Dr. Watts expand her knowledge of abortion techniques, he also helped her get a license to practice medicine.[2] Ruth enrolled in a two-year chiropractor program, which placed an emphasis on naturopathy.[1] After receiving her certification and apprenticing under Dr. Watts for another five years, Ruth began her independent career by buying the practices of several retiring physicians.[2]

Despite the fact that abortions had been illegal in Oregon since 1854,[4] Ruth was able to begin her long career as an abortionist. She opened the Stewart Clinic in Portland, Oregon during the 1930s.[2] The police paid little to no attention to her practice, as anti-abortion laws were rarely enforced at that time unless maternal death occurred.[3] When she opened her practice, America was starting to feel the effects of the Great Depression. Because very few people could afford to have more children to feed, Ruth's business was incredibly sought after.[1] Ruth made about $182,000 per year at this practice, which is the modern equivalent of about $3,250,000 per year.[3] Despite her lack of legal certification, she maintained the highest safety record of practicing abortionists in the area, including licensed practitioners.[2] In fact, the majority of her patients were referred to her by properly licensed practitioners.[3]

Though her clinic remained open, in 1940 Ruth was recruited to help operate a sect of abortion clinics in Reno, Nevada.[2] She was recruited by Reg Rankin, who was trying to legitimize his abortion syndicate after a recent client almost died of an infection.[2] In later years, Ruth would deeply regret the decision to help run the clinic in Reno as one of the worst decisions of her career. Upon arriving, she found that the clinic was not properly set up or supplied, and after performing her first operation there her client developed an infection.[1] This led to her first arrest, which was a huge embarrassment for a woman who prided herself on her safety record and skills as a practitioner.[2] She was eventually released from custody after providing information about the abortion syndicate she was working for, then she fled back to Portland.[2]

After the Reno incident, Ruth continued to work at the Stewart Clinic. In the postwar period following World War II, there was an increased crackdown on the enforcement of abortion laws.[5] Additionally, the new mayor of Portland, Dorothy McCullough Lee, had promised to crack down on crime within the city.[1] In 1951, she was arrested for the first time in Portland, Oregon.[3] This began a long relationship with the police. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Ruth was periodically in jail.[2] Despite her regular interactions with law enforcement, Ruth continued to run her clinic. In fact, Stewart Clinic remained open for 33 years.[3] In 1968, when Ruth was 73, the stints in jail and health problems forced Ruth into retirement.[3]