The Boulder Abortion Clinic, one of the few clinics in the nation offering third-trimester abortions, has closed after fifty years of operation.
The closure comes as its director, Dr. Warren Hern, announced his retirement.
“After more than 50 years of helping women to have safe abortions at my private medical practice, Boulder Abortion Clinic, we have closed and have stopped scheduling patients,” Hern wrote in a message published on clinic’s website, which now reads, “Closed. No Longer Scheduling Patients.”
Hern said the closure was a “difficult decision,” noting that terminating pregnancies was his “life’s work” that gave him and others working at the clinic “great satisfaction and meaning in our lives.”
“Many of those doing this work with me have been with me for decades,” he wrote. “They have shown the utmost courage and commitment to the women who have been our patients in the face of great personal danger from the constant threat of lethal anti-abortion violence that we have experienced. They have shown great personal strength in supporting women and their families in the worst moments of their lives.”
Hern noted that a woman’s “safety” was his priority while conducting abortions, claiming that “nothing else matters while her life is at stake.” He further stated that he “must now leave this sacred commitment to others.”
According to The Colorado Sun, 14,691 abortions occurred in Colorado in 2023. Of those, 29% were for out-of-state residents.
Under Colorado law, an abortion may be had at any point during a woman’s pregnancy.
