Paula Brown Doress-Worters, a pioneering women's health activist and a foundational voice behind the seminal book "Our Bodies, Ourselves," passed away on February 21, 2026, at the age of 87 in Redwood City, California, due to pancreatic cancer and dementia. Her life was a testament to her unwavering commitment to social justice and empowering women with knowledge about their own bodies and lives. At the time of her death, she was completing a memoir reflecting on her life and activism.

Born Paula Brown in Boston on August 27, 1938, to Jewish immigrants from Poland, her early experiences profoundly shaped a lifelong dedication to advocacy. She grew up in Boston's Roxbury and Dorchester neighborhoods, witnessing the racism faced by Black classmates and neighbors, which instilled in her a profound interest in social justice. The loss of her grandmother, uncles, and cousins in the Holocaust, coupled with her family hosting relatives who fled Nazi-occupied Austria, further fueled her commitment to justice. Her educational journey began with an accounting degree from Bentley, which she used to work as an accountant, contributing to her parents' household and saving money for Suffolk University. She earned her bachelor's degree from Suffolk University in 1962.

Her early career included impactful work as a community organizer in Roxbury, where she collaborated with residents to address housing, welfare, and education issues. She notably worked for Black Congressional candidate Noel Day and fought for equal treatment for Black women on welfare. In 1964, she married Irvin Doress, and they shared a life of activism, welcoming their daughter Hannah in 1966 and son Ben Zion in 1969. They briefly lived in a commune on Mission Hill in 1970, fostering egalitarian relationships, before their divorce in 1979.

A pivotal personal experience ignited her passion for women's health. After giving birth to her daughter Hannah in 1966, Doress-Worters suffered from severe postpartum depression, a condition then largely unacknowledged and misunderstood by the medical community. This struggle fueled her resolve to break the silence and improve support for new mothers. In 1969, she attended a workshop on "Women and the Control of Our Bodies," which led to the formation of the Boston Women's Health Book Collective. This collective, driven by the belief that women needed accessible, honest information about their health, produced "Women and Their Bodies" in 1970, which was re-titled "Our Bodies, Ourselves" in 1971. Doress-Worters was a key co-author, notably contributing to the groundbreaking chapter on postpartum experiences. She also co-authored chapters on "Our Sexual Relationships" and "Considering Parenthood" for "Our Bodies, Ourselves."

Her academic pursuits continued alongside her activism. She earned a master's degree in Women's Studies from Goddard College in 1981 and a PhD in Social Psychology from Boston College in 1993, with a dissertation focusing on caregiving. She taught women's history courses at Emerson College, a forerunner in Women's Studies, and at UMass Boston and Boston College, in addition to teaching Jewish studies. In 1986, she married Allen J. Worters, and they formed loving relationships with each other's children, including her stepchildren Susan Reel and David Worters. After Allen's death in 2005, she endowed the Allen J. Worters Memorial Lecture. She also celebrated a group Bat Mitzvah at Temple Hillel B'nai Torah.

Doress-Worters further expanded the scope of women's health literature by co-authoring "Ourselves, Growing Older: Women Aging With Knowledge and Power," first published in 1987. This work addressed the often-overlooked health concerns of aging women, demonstrating her foresight and commitment to women across all life stages. She authored a new "Our Bodies, Ourselves" chapter called "Women Growing Older" starting with the 1992 edition, and contributed a chapter on society's impact on parents for "Ourselves and Our Children" (1978).

Throughout her life, Paula Doress-Worters remained deeply involved with the Our Bodies Ourselves organization, serving on its board and Founders Committee for over five decades. She also dedicated years as a resident scholar at Brandeis University's Women's Studies Research Center, where she researched and published on 19th-century Jewish feminist Ernestine Rose, culminating in "Mistress of Herself" (Feminist Press, 2008), an edited collection of Rose's speeches and letters. Her work on Rose included presenting at a Gender Studies conference in Poland and speaking to city officials in Rose's native town of Piotrkow. She was listed in "Feminists Who Changed America 1963-1974" (2006) and was prominently featured in Rachel Louise Moran's 2024 book "Blue: A History of Postpartum Depression in America." Just four months before her death, in October 2025, she participated in a "No Kings" protest, holding a sign that read "My Body, My Self, Hands Off."

Her death prompted significant obituaries in major publications like The Washington Post and The Boston Globe, and a dedicated tribute article from the Our Bodies Ourselves organization, indicating broad recognition of her impact. Historian Rachel Louise Moran noted that Doress-Worters "really did do something new" by highlighting the postpartum experience. "Our Bodies, Ourselves" was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 best and most influential English-language nonfiction books published since the magazine's founding. The Our Bodies Ourselves organization underwent a 2025 merger/transition to a multi-racial, multi-generational project at Suffolk University's Center for Women's Health and Human Rights, on whose Founders Committee she served, showing her continued influence on the organization's evolution. Her papers are held at the Harvard Radcliffe Schlesinger Library. Her legacy is one of profound impact, having empowered countless women to understand and advocate for their own health and rights.