BOULDER, Colo. — Dr. Warren Hern worked at the first abortion clinic in Colorado in 1973. Nearly 50 years later, at 83 years old, he is still practicing in Boulder.
In the 1960s, while he was a medical student in Denver, Hern said, he saw many women who nearly died after an illegal abortion. One time, he said, a woman shot herself in the belly and drove herself to Colorado General Hospital.
"They refused to give her the abortion," he said. "She went home and shot herself in the uterus to kill the fetus and then drove herself to the hospital. That is how desperate women can be."
He found a calling to perform safe, legal abortions for women who needed them. Hern worked at the first abortion clinic in Colorado right after the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. Then he opened up his own practice, Boulder Abortion Clinic.
His career has been revered by colleagues and despised by people who oppose abortions. Hern said someone threw rocks through the window of his clinic in the 1980s. In the same decade, someone fired five bullets through the front door.
He said he kept coming back so he could help his patients.
"She said, 'it's so different. You're a doctor. It's clean. The windows are open. The lights are on. Please don't ever stop doing this,'" he said. "And so I didn't."
If the Supreme Court overturns Roe V. Wade, Hern worries history could repeat itself and more women will die trying to have unsafe and illegal abortions.
"I have always felt this is an extremely important service and there's never been a time when it's been less important," he said.
This clinic is a refuge for women who are seeking a procedure that may be banned in other states. Boulder Abortion Clinic offers late abortions, which occur during the third trimester.
Hern thinks he will start to see more patients coming to his clinic if the wait lists at other clinics in Colorado start to get too long.
"This is a major component and essential component of women's healthcare, and that's being threatened," he said.
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