Warren Hern

Boulder Abortion Clinic

Warren M. Hern, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D. Director, Boulder Abortion Clinic

Warren M. Hern received his medical education at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in 1965 and completed a rotating internship at Gorgas Hospital in the Canal Zone in 1966. He then served for two years as Peace Corps physician in Salvador, Bahia Brazil on assignment from the US Public Health Service. After returning to the United States, he studied at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health and received a Master of Public Health in 1970. From 1970 to 1972, he served as Chief, Program Development and Evaluation Branch of the Family Planning Division of the Office of Economic Opportunity ("War on Poverty") in Washington, D.C. During that time, he was present for arguments before the US Supreme Court in Vuitch, Roe vs. Wade, and Doe vs. Bolton. He first performed abortions at PreTerm Clinic in Washington, D.C. in 1971. In 1973, he became the founding medical director of the first free-standing non-profit abortion clinic in Colorado. On January 22, 1975, he opened his private medical practice, Boulder Abortion Clinic, and has continued to specialize in abortion services. He is the author of a textbook on abortion practice and numerous published clinical reports concerning late abortion. Many of these reports may be viewed at www.drhern.com. He received his Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina in 1988.

Late Abortion: A Doctor’s Perspective

Warren Hern

Dr. Warren M. Hern is the Director of the Boulder Abortion Clinic.

Women who come to my office for late abortions are, without exception, in extreme distress. The most difficult situations are those in which the pregnancy is desired but a diagnosis of fetal abnormality or genetic disorder has been made. Also, medical conditions occur that require termination of the pregnancy, sometimes under emergency conditions. These are not uncommon, especially in a practice such as mine that specializes in late abortion. The anguish that women and their partners and family experience under these circumstances is profound. It is a major life event and it is a terrible loss.

There are teenagers who have become pregnant following a[img_assist|nid=1353|title=Special Series|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=89|height=100] first sexual intercourse and who are uninformed about anatomy, physiology, and pregnancy. They are often terrified and don't know what to do until a family member sees the obvious evidence of advanced pregnancy. Outside of tribal societies in which adolescent pregnancy and family formation is the norm, what 14 or 16 year-old girl in this society is prepared to raise and nurture a child? The medical risks of adolescent pregnancy are very serious, and they have life-threatening and life-altering effects.