Late-term abortionist Warren Hern is shutting down his business

An 86-year-old late-term abortionist, who has performed over 40,000 abortions, is shutting down his facility after more than 50 years of operation. 

The webpage for the Boulder Abortion Clinic, operated by Warren Hern, has been replaced with a message announcing the facility’s permanent closure. Hern referred to his abortion practice as his “life’s work,” adding that the work brought “great satisfaction and meaning” to the abortionist and his staff. 

According to Hern, who retired in January, closing the Boulder Abortion Clinic was a “difficult decision,” and he praised his staff for “the utmost courage and commitment” they have displayed over the years. 

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“It has been a privilege to do this work for almost 55 years. It has been a privilege to know the many exceptional people in this field who were and are devoted to the highest standards of medical care for women and who are dedicated to the fundamental principle of reproductive freedom for everyone,” Hern stated. 

The Colorado abortionist added that he has had a desire to be free of the operating room for quite some time, remarking that he must now leave the “sacred commitment” of performing abortions to others. 

“I remain committed to reproductive freedom for women, and I will find other ways to support that,” the abortionist concluded. 

Hern said the Boulder Abortion Clinic had seen around 45,000 patients over 50 years, according to The Denver Post. The abortionist cited the cost of running a facility like the Boulder Abortion Clinic and the potential for receiving death threats as reasons why someone might not want to operate a late-term abortion facility as he did. 

“No reasonable person would do what I’ve done, and most people are reasonable,” Hern said. “But I’m proud of what I’ve done.”

Lila Rose, the founder and president of the pro-life advocacy group Live Action, shared her reaction to the closure of Hern’s facility in a post on X reflecting on his willingness to commit late-term abortions. 

“After murdering thousands of 2nd & 3rd-trimester babies over five 5 decades, [a]bortionist Warren Hern has ‘retired’ & closed his Colorado killing center,” Rose stated. “We will not stop working until every killing center is shut down.” 

Live Action added in a separate X post that the Boulder Abortion Clinic was among the few facilities in the nation that would perform abortions up to 36 weeks. 

The Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, noted in its post on X reacting to the closure that Hern has admitted to performing over 1,000 second- and third-trimester abortions between 1999 and 2004. The ages of the pre-born babies ranged from 18 to 33 weeks gestation. 

“Remember, the youngest premature baby to survive was born at 21 weeks and 1 day,” the pro-life research group added.

Hern, who performed his first abortion in 1972, previously said it’s difficult to find people who are willing to do the type of work he does. In a 2023 interview with The Atlantic, Hern said he was working with other abortionists who he hoped would one day take over his practice; however, given that his facility is closing, this doesn’t appear to have come to fruition. 

At the beginning of his career, the abortionist suffered from nightmares after seeing the mutilated bodies of dead babies. He eventually pushed those emotions away, telling himself that the “psychological stress of the work was the necessary cost of helping patients.”

During the same interview, Hern expressed irritation when asked if he would perform an abortion on a woman who was 30 weeks pregnant with no known health complications. According to the abortionist, “[e]very pregnancy is a health issue,” insisting that there is “a certifiable risk of death from being pregnant, period.”

Hern claimed that a baby’s viability is determined by whether a woman wants the pregnancy and not by gestational age. The Atlantic also reported that Hern had performed at least two sex-selective abortions: once for a woman who did not want a girl and another for a woman who did not want a boy.