Staffers who worked at Dr. Warren Hern’s Boulder abortion clinic — one of the few nationwide that offered the procedure later in pregnancy — plan to reopen this summer at a different location and under a new ownership structure.
Hern, celebrated as an advocate of women’s reproductive freedom and vilified by abortion opponents, closed the Boulder Abortion Clinic after 50 years when he retired in mid-April.
Employees had planned to take over ownership and continue operating the clinic without a gap, but his decision to close it before completing the hand-off forced them to move faster, said Alicia Moreno, executive director of the new clinic.
The former employees have named the new clinic RISE Collective — short for Reproductive Health, Inclusive Care, Support and Empowerment.
Opening a new clinic requires two major resources: capital and a trained staff, said Moreno, who was chief operations officer for the Boulder Abortion Clinic.
The RISE Collective already has the staff in place, with 17 people who worked at the previous clinic taking a role in setting up the new one, she said. That includes physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, lab workers and more. Some staff members bought a share of the new clinic, while others will receive a small stake in recognition of their work.
The former Boulder Abortion Clinic staffers, whose plans were first reported by the Boulder Reporting Lab, are meeting with foundations and accepting funds through GoFundMe and the Brigid Alliance, which helps with expenses for patients traveling to receive abortion care.
The Rise Collective needs about $200,000 to start working in a leased space, and $3 million to get through the first year and buy a permanent facility, Moreno said. They don’t plan to return to the old clinic space on Alpine Avenue, she said.
“We’re looking for a fresh space and a new beginning,” she said.
The collective plans to open in either July or August, Moreno said. Colorado doesn’t inspect and license abortion clinics, which speeds the process of opening one. The group is trying to anticipate regulations that might come later, such as having hallways wide enough to fit gurneys in emergencies, and find a space that would likely meet them, she said.
The Boulder Abortion Clinic had patients booked out for several weeks when it closed, Moreno said. Those who weren’t as far into their pregnancies generally got appointments with other providers in Colorado, but those who needed more specialized care had to travel to the East Coast, she said.
Colorado is among nine states and the District of Columbia that have no gestational age limit for abortions.
“It’s left a big gap in the community,” Moreno said of the closure.
Hern opened the Boulder Abortion Clinic shortly after Roe v. Wade created a nationwide right to abortion. The clinic saw more-complex patients than other providers that offered later abortions, making it a destination for patients who discovered severe fetal anomalies, according to Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.
Some patients came from as far as Australia and Europe.
But the clinic also became a destination for protesters. Most remained peaceful, but someone fired five shots through the facility’s windows in 1988. The shots didn’t hit anyone, and Hern installed bulletproof glass in response.
“This practice is my life’s work,” Hern wrote on his clinic’s website when he announced his retirement. “It has given me and others helping me great satisfaction and meaning in our lives. It could not have happened without my superb staff… Many of those doing this work with me have been with me for decades. They have shown the utmost courage and commitment to the women who have been our patients in the face of great personal danger from the constant threat of lethal anti-abortion violence that we have experienced.”
Third-trimester abortions are uncommon. Almost three-quarters of the 14,691 abortions performed in Colorado in 2023, the most recent year with data, took place at eight weeks of pregnancy or earlier. About 1% happened at 28 weeks or later.
The relative lack of providers offering later abortions and the need to allow the staff to keep supporting their families both give urgency to reopening, Moreno said.
“We don’t have any time to mess around,” she said.
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