Earlier this year, one of the handful of late-term abortionists left in the country announced his retirement, initially promising that his brutal business would remain open. Now, he has released a statement announcing that the facility will close permanently.
Warren Hern retired on January 22, 2025 — exactly 50 years to the day from when he opened the Boulder Abortion Clinic. At the time, he said the facility would continue to make available “the safest, most compassionate and highest quality outpatient abortion services available anywhere.” However, despite attempting to remain open, the facility struggled without Hern. Abortionist Benedict Mills was believed to have stepped in as Hern’s replacement.
The Boulder Abortion Clinic website now automatically redirects to another site, www.drhern.com, which states that the facility is permanently closed. In a letter posted to the site, Hern referred to the killing of viable preborn human beings as his “life’s work” which gave him “great satisfaction and meaning.” Committing abortions, he said, is a “sacred commitment”:
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.
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. When I have a patient, I can’t do anything else. Her safety and well-being is my priority. Nothing else matters while her life is at stake. I must now leave this sacred commitment to others.
Hern’s controversial history is seemingly formed by his misanthrope mindset; he has referred to human beings as a “planetary cancer,” and pregnancy as a disease. But that doesn’t mean he never struggled; at the beginning of his career, he had recurring nightmares.
READ: Abortionist Warren Hern wrecks narrative, says he does elective late-term abortions ‘all the time’
“He would often retreat to his office to compose himself after an abortion,” a feature on Hern published in the Atlantic said. “Partly, it was the high-stakes nature of the procedure. But he also needed time to process how the dead fetus looked, how removing it felt. Sometimes he’d sit in his office and think, What am I doing?”
His staffers likewise faced difficulties in their jobs; one profile explained:
The work has caused some of his employees “serious emotional reactions that produced physiological symptoms, sleep disturbances, effects on interpersonal relationships and moral anguish,” Hern reported in a medical journal.
Whatever reservations Hern may have initially had, he overcame them, later saying that he loved committing abortions. Hern is known to have collected as much as $25,000 for an abortion, living in a lavish, expensive home while allowing his abortion facility to fall into disrepair around him. It is estimated that, in his career, Hern killed 42,000 preborn children.
