(Headline USA) For over 50 years, the Boulder Abortion Clinic served as a resource for women who sought abortions in the second or third trimester because of medical reasons “or other circumstances.”
Finally, the baby killing is over. That clinic quietly closed last month, leaving the U.S. with just a handful that offer abortions after 28 weeks into pregnancy — many on a case-by-case basis.
The 87-year-old clinic founder, Dr. Warren Hern, says he is deeply upset: “It became impossible to continue, but closing is one of the most painful decisions of my life.”
Anti-abortion advocates have celebrated the closure, calling it a step forward in protecting mothers and unborn children. While most abortions take place in the first trimester, clinics like the one in Boulder have killed thousands of babies over the decades.
Federal data shows just 1% of abortions come after 21 weeks of pregnancy, but experts believe that number is higher because some states, including California, don’t give the feds their abortion statistics.
For years, Hern was the only provider in the U.S. to offer later abortions, starting in 1973 and developing specialized techniques and even innovating certain tools.
He and his medical team received constant death threats. Someone shot through the windows of the clinic five times in 1988. Five of Hern’s colleagues who offered similar services were assassinated throughout his career, including the 2009 slaying of Dr. George Tiller in Kansas.
When Hern announced the clinic’s closure in late April, the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America declared the news as a “VICTORY” in a social media post.
In the end, financial issues made it almost impossible to operate the clinic. Hern said patients increasingly were having trouble paying for the procedure, which hovers around $10,000 and is often not covered by insurance. Longtime personal donors were also dwindling.
According to the Later Abortion Initiative by Ibis Reproductive Health, fewer than 20 clinics provide abortions after 24 weeks into pregnancy in the U.S. — though that number isn’t considered comprehensive and excludes hospitals and a handful of other clinics for security reasons.
Currently, the group lists three clinics — in New Mexico, Maryland and Washington, D.C. — that provide services after 28 weeks. Five others — in Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Washington state — will consider patients depending on physician recommendations or fetal and maternal conditions.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
