This article was highlighted in One Story to Read Today, a newsletter where our editors recommend a single must-read article from The Atlantic on a daily basis. If you’re interested in subscribing, you can sign up here.
When the sun set over Boulder, the abortion doctor arrived to pick me up for dinner. Struggling to recognize him through his aviator glasses and fur-trapper hat, I realized it was Warren Hern.
At the restaurant, we were offered a table, but Hern chose one in the corner instead. With his heavy hiking boots, he clomped over to claim it. He wasted no time in ordering osso buco and a glass of Spanish red and inquired about the waiting period.
Throughout our dinner, which lasted two and a half hours, Hern continuously corrected me. He stressed that a baby is referred to as a fetus until it is “born alive,” clarified that his dear friend, George Tiller, was assassinated rather than murdered in 2009, and asserted that those who protest outside his clinic are not “pro-life,” but rather fascists.
Interrupting our conversation, Hern let out a sigh. He mentioned being busy and hinted that he’d rather be doing something else than talking to me. However, he couldn’t complain about the failure of the pro-choice movement to communicate and then pass up an opportunity to communicate himself.
Hern’s gruffness didn’t surprise me. The 84-year-old doctor can be cantankerous, steadfast in his beliefs, and intolerant of criticism, despite dishing it out himself. These qualities may serve him well in his profession.
With almost five decades of practice at his Boulder clinic, Hern has witnessed the entire span of Roe v. Wade, from its rise to the present day. His specialization lies in late-term abortions, the rarest and most controversial type of abortion. As a result, Hern terminates pregnancies for women who are 22, 25, or even 30 weeks along. While 14 states have enacted strict abortion laws, Colorado has no gestational limits. Consequently, patients from all over the country seek Hern’s services, as he is one of the few physicians willing and able to perform later abortions.
During the first trimester, when the majority of abortions take place in the United States, the fetus is merely a small clot of phlegm or an alien-like mass of flesh. However, by 22 weeks, a human fetus is about the size of a small melon. Hern’s procedures involve removing a body that, if seen, would provoke a strong pang of recognition. These are the abortions that provide fodder for gruesome images on protesters’ signs and billboards along highways.
Many women visit Hern’s clinic due to health complications or because their fetus has a severe abnormality that would require countless surgeries with minimal chance of survival. However, Hern doesn’t limit his work to such cases.
Lately, the phone at Hern’s clinic rings incessantly. Following the overturning of Roe and the subsequent wave of abortion bans, appointment schedules at clinics in states where abortion is still legal are filling up. Women who have to wait weeks for an appointment run the risk of missing the window for a first-trimester procedure. As a result, some fly to Boulder to see Hern, who is now treating around 50% more patients than usual.
These later abortions are challenging and uncommon cases that many staunch abortion-rights advocates prefer not to discuss. As the pro-choice movement strives to protect abortion rights after Roe’s fall, its members face strategic decisions about whether and how to defend these practices.
Although most Americans support abortion access, they also believe in limitations, especially concerning factors such as time and pain, as well as the development of fingernails. Hern, on the other hand, refuses to acknowledge any boundaries or red lines. He takes the woman’s right to choose argument to its logical extreme, just as anti-abortion activists are pushing their agenda to the extreme. He views his religious opponents as zealots, while remaining an absolutist in his own right.
In May 2019, I received an envelope at work containing a nature calendar credited to Hern. The calendar featured stunning photos, including an arctic tern on an ice chunk, a vibrant mountain maple in the Holy Cross Wilderness, and two sandhill cranes in flight. Amused, I remembered interviewing Hern a week prior for an article on abortion-rights activism. How peculiar it was for an active abortion doctor to create wildlife calendars and send them express mail to journalists. Intrigued, I decided to fly to Boulder to meet him in person.
Hern’s Boulder Abortion Clinic is a yellow-brick, single-story building partially obscured from view by a wooden fence. Due to a prior incident in which Hern was shot at in 1988, the front windows are made of bulletproof glass. Access to the waiting room requires presenting identification, and the blinds are usually drawn, casting a dim atmosphere throughout the clinic. Stepping inside feels like entering a time warp with its wood paneling, vinyl chairs, and faded green carpet.
On my first visit, there were no protesters outside chanting. It was a Monday, and they typically appeared on Tuesdays, which served as patient intake days. Hern’s staff escorted me to an office near the front desk, where I could hear incoming calls. I listened as a receptionist comforted a patient named Lindsey, assuring her that it was okay to feel anxious. Tearful pauses punctuated their conversation.
“The fee will be around $6,000,” the receptionist informed Lindsey. Late-term abortions are costly due to their medical complexity. The National Abortion Federation and local abortion funds often provide financial aid for those in need. The receptionist shared this information with Lindsey, offering her the organization’s contact details. She assured Lindsey that payment could be made using a combination of cash and credit card. In cases where a woman is unable to pay for her hotel, transportation to Boulder, or certain aspects of the procedure, Hern himself will cover the expenses.
A few years ago, Hern ceased performing first-trimester abortions. The demand for later abortions was too great, and his clinic couldn’t accommodate both. The process he employs takes three to four days and involves several steps. First, an ultrasound is performed, followed by the injection of digoxin, a medication that stops the fetus’s heart. This is known as “inducing fetal demise.” Laminarias, sterile rods made of seaweed, are then placed in the patient’s cervix to initiate dilation. After one or two additional days of inserting and removing laminarias, once the cervix is suitably dilated, Hern drains the amniotic fluid, administers misoprostol to the patient, and removes the fetus. Depending on the circumstances, Hern may remove the fetus intact or in parts. Upon request, a nurse can provide a blanket for the patient to hold or offer handprints or footprints as keepsakes.
I spoke with several former patients of Hern’s. Many of these women had originally desired to have a child but received devastating diagnoses late in their pregnancies. They heard distressing terms such as prune-belly syndrome, trisomy 13, Dandy-Walker malformation, and agenesis of the corpus callosum. Some considered their abortion a form of mercy killing.
Kate Carson, who underwent an abortion at Hern’s clinic in 2012, shared her experience with me. At 35 weeks into her much-desired pregnancy, she received a devastating diagnosis of multiple brain anomalies. The doctor informed Carson that her daughter would struggle with walking, talking, holding her head up, and swallowing. Carson described her decision as euthanasia, a compassionate act. She stated, “But I would do it again a million times if I had to.”
Amber Jones, another woman who underwent a late-term abortion at Hern’s clinic, suffered from polycystic ovary syndrome. For her and many others, Hern’s clinic became the last resort for a fetus that couldn’t survive outside the womb.
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
