After five decades of controversial service, Colorado’s Boulder Abortion Clinic, one of the few facilities in America performing late-term abortions, has permanently closed its doors amid financial struggles and its 87-year-old founder’s inability to find a successor.
Key Insights
- Dr. Warren Hern’s Boulder Abortion Clinic, founded in 1975, was among the rare U.S. facilities openly performing abortions after 28 weeks, sometimes up to 32 weeks or beyond.
- Financial issues forced the closure, including patients’ inability to afford $10,000 procedures and decreasing donor support.
- Despite the clinic’s closure, Colorado still allows abortions up to birth, with a recent ballot measure enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution.
- Hern, 87, expressed a desire to retire from active practice while remaining committed to supporting reproductive freedom in other ways.
- The doctor has made controversial statements about humanity, describing it as a “malignant ecotumor” and suggesting pregnancy is inherently dangerous.
End of a Controversial Era
The Boulder Abortion Clinic, established by Dr. Warren Hern in 1975 just two years after Roe v. Wade legalized abortion nationwide, has closed after half a century of operations. The clinic gained notoriety as one of the few facilities in America that openly advertised and performed third-trimester abortions, which remained legal under Colorado state law. Hern, now 87, was for many years the only doctor performing such late-term procedures at the facility, making it a destination for women seeking abortions after 28 weeks of pregnancy.
A notice posted on the clinic’s website confirmed the closure, stating: “After more than 50 years… we have closed and have stopped scheduling patients.” Dr. Hern explained that despite his dedication to his practice, financial constraints made continuing operations impossible. Patients struggled to pay the approximately $10,000 cost for late-term procedures, and the clinic saw a significant decrease in personal donors who had previously helped support its operations.
Late-Term Abortion Practices
Throughout its operation, the Boulder Abortion Clinic specialized in a controversial segment of reproductive healthcare that few medical professionals would perform. Dr. Hern acknowledged performing abortions up to 32 weeks and beyond in some cases. While he maintained that many of these procedures involved fetal anomalies, he also admitted to performing abortions for various other reasons, including sex selection and on fetuses with beating hearts at 15 or 16 weeks.
“I am not an abortion-dispensing machine. I’m a physician, and there are things I will do and things I will not,” he told The New Yorker last year.
The definition of “late-term abortion” itself remains controversial. While these procedures represent a small percentage of total abortions performed annually in the United States, they still account for thousands of operations each year. Currently, nine states plus Washington, DC have no gestational limits on abortion, though fewer than 20 clinics nationwide perform abortions after 24 weeks – a number now further reduced with Boulder’s closure.
Controversial Views and Legacy
Throughout his career, Dr. Hern expressed views that often sparked controversy beyond his medical practice. He has described humanity as a “malignant ecotumor” and proposed renaming humans as “Homo ecophagus” due to environmental concerns. He also made contested claims that pregnancy is inherently dangerous and that abortion is safer than childbirth – statements that pro-life organizations strongly dispute.
“Although I love my work, I have wanted for years to be free from the operating room and the daily cares of a private medical practice,” Hern wrote in his statement about the facility’s closure, adding that while he must “leave this sacred commitment to others,” he is still “committed to reproductive freedom [sic] for women” and “will find other ways to support that.” stated Dr. Hern
Despite the clinic’s closure, Colorado’s abortion landscape remains largely unchanged. The state continues to allow abortions up to birth for any reason, with residents recently voting to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. Pro-life groups, including Oregon Right to Life, maintain their opposition to abortion at any gestational stage, advocating for what they describe as the sanctity of life from conception to natural death.
Sources:
- Notorious Late-Term Colorado Abortion Facility Run by Warren Hern Closes After 50 Years
- Timeline of Attacks on Abortion: 2009–2021
- Colorado Late-Term Abortion Clinic Closes After 50 Years
