Warren Hern, a founding member of the National Abortion Federation, is infamous for performing late-term abortions in Colorado on viable human beings at the bulletproof Boulder Abortion Clinic, which he founded in 1973.

Hern, who literally wrote the book on the grisly practice, recently announced that he was hanging up his surgical gloves and closing the clinic, despite the "great satisfaction" he obtained from his bloody work.

Critics celebrated the clinic's closure, while abortion activists and the liberal media clutched pearls, suggesting someone needs to "pick up the mantle."

"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," said the late-term abortionist. "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."

'What is viability, exactly?'

The Atlantic said of Hern in 2023, "He takes the woman's-choice argument to its logical conclusion, in much the same way that, at this moment, anti-abortion activists are pressing their case to its extreme. Hern considers his religious adversaries to be zealots, and many of them are. But he is, in his own way, no less an absolutist."

Hern, who previously made clear that he disliked the supposedly demeaning word "abortionist," indicated to the liberal publication that "at least half, and sometimes more, of the women who come to the clinic" are carrying children who do not have "devastating medical diagnoses."

In at least two cases, he reportedly killed an unborn child simply because of the child's sex.

"The reason doesn't really matter to Hern. Medical viability for a fetus — or its ability to survive outside the uterus — is generally considered to be somewhere from 24 to 28 weeks. Hern, though, believes that the viability of a fetus is determined not by gestational age but by a woman’s willingness to carry it," said the Atlantic.

Despite telling the New Yorker in September that there were some lines he would not cross, Hern provided a strong indication that line could be blurred, stating, "What is viability, exactly? What is the definition of viability? If the woman's life is at risk, the viability of the fetus is irrelevant."

Live Action News estimated that Hern killed 42,000 unborn babies over the course of his career.

The Charlotte Lozier Institute noted that "Hern's own research admits he performed over 1,000 late-term abortions on unborn babies 18 to 38 weeks' gestation between 1999 and 2004."

"Remember, the youngest premature baby to survive was born at 21 weeks and 1 day," added the institute.

In its Sunday eulogy for the Colorado clinic wherein it admitted late-term abortions are likely more common than federal data indicates, the Associated Press told the story of Sarah Watkins — a Georgia woman who traveled to the BAC in 2019 to have her baby killed just before 25 weeks because the baby had a genetic condition called trisomy 18 or Edwards syndrome.

"I did not want her to feel a single moment of hurt or suffering or pain or discomfort," said Watkins. "That's why I made the decision."

Contrary to the AP's suggestion that Watkins' baby was doomed, the majority of babies with trisomy 18 survive childbirth and roughly 10% survive past the first year, as in the case of former Republican Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum's daughter Isabella, who will celebrate her 17th birthday on Tuesday.

Hern's days of aborting children like Watkins' appear to be at an end — and the decision was reportedly driven by financial issues.

Even in the Democratic-controlled state of Colorado, insurance did not always cover the abortions, for which Hern charged more than $25,000. Personal donors were similarly dropping off the map.

While the late-term abortionist worked with various other abortionists, none of them apparently were interested in taking over the clinic.

"I had to make a decision, really, you know, sort of on the basis of the situation at the moment that we couldn't continue," he said. "It was very, very painful. I see this as my personal failure."

Financial concerns helped shut Hern down, but he attributed the broader wind-down of "abortion access" to President Donald Trump, telling Axios, "As far as abortion rights, the fate of Roe v. Wade was sealed when Donald Trump was elected in 2016."

'This is a step forward.'

The closure of Hern's abattoir leaves only a handful left nationwide. According to the Later Abortion Initiative, an offshoot of the abortion advocacy outfit Ibis Reproductive Health, there are three clinics — in New Mexico, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. — that will generally kill unborn babies after 28 weeks and a handful of other facilities that will provide abortion beyond 24 weeks.

"Every time a clinic closes, it does impact everybody and what kinds of care they give," Anna Rupani, executive director of Fund Texas Choice, told the AP.

Jane Armstrong, a Texas-based therapist who had her baby aborted at 21 weeks, said, "I think Dr. Hern has been the torchbearer for abortion leaders in pregnancy."

"Who will pick up the mantle?" asked Armstrong. "We really do need a new torchbearer right now."

Diane Horvath, medical director at Partners in Abortion Care, told the AP, "This type of care is still available," referring to late-term abortions, but "it's more rare than it was a couple weeks ago."

"This is a step forward in protecting unborn babies and their mothers from the violence of abortion," Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America said in a statement.

While some anti-abortion groups were celebratory, others hinted that the closure was at best a symbolic victory.

Bradley Pierce, president of the Foundation to Abolish Abortion, told Blaze News, "Whether or not they are forced to close by the laws in any particular state, we can expect more surgical abortion facilities to shut their doors in the coming years. That is largely because of the increasing popularity of abortion pills and other methods of self-induced abortion."

While the number of such facilities is dwindling, Pierce noted that since Roe v. Wade was overturned, abortions have gone up "generally due to the increasing popularity of abortion pills, which have become the primary method of abortion in the United States. Even in conservative states where clinics have closed, women are still ordering and taking abortion pills."

"Late-term abortion often pulls at consciences more strongly because those babies are more developed. But intentionally destroying a preborn child in the earliest stages of development is just as murderous as destroying a preborn child when he or she is more fully grown. If the late-term abortion facilities close, more people will murder their babies sooner," added Pierce. "The reality is that we need laws establishing equal protection for preborn children, regardless of size or level of development, because all preborn children are human persons made in the image of God."

Blaze News reached out the National Abortion Federation for comment but did not receive a response by deadline.

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