Warren Hern's former staff reopens 'all-trimester' abortion facility in Colorado

After notorious late-term abortionist Warren Hern retired and unexpectedly closed his abortion business, a group of his former staffers vowed to reopen — and they have.

Key Takeaways:

• Hern announced his retirement on the 50th anniversary of the opening of his facility in Boulder, Colorado.

• Initially, he said he would keep the facility open, but by May, said he would be closing it instead.

• Several former staffers banded together to create the RISE Collective, with the goal of reopening an "all-trimester" abortion facility in Boulder before the end of 2025.

• The facility is now open and scheduling abortions.

The Details:

The RISE Collective opened on October 14, with several groups coming together to open the facility and to secure funding. The RISE Collective operates the abortion facility, while the Boulder Collective 501c3 is focused on funding, as well as finding a permanent home for RISE and other abortion facilities.

Former staffer Alicia Moreno, who held the position of chief operating officer at the Boulder Abortion Clinic, is now the executive director of the RISE Collective.

"When the clinic closed we all said we don’t wanna let this go. So the question was who would be interested in helping put together our own thing?" she told Yellow Scene Magazine. “We already were so well versed in what we knew how to do. We had worked together for so long and in really incredible ways. Everything else was really just procurement.”

The abortion facility will commit abortions into the third trimester, for any reason at all, according to its own promotional video. The video also states that the facility is operated by a team of 13 individuals:

RISE Collective Introduction

“In Boulder, Colorado, a place with a historic legacy of all-trimester abortion care, a new chapter is rising,” the video says. “At RISE Collective, we believe that any reason you have for needing abortion care is yours, and it is the right one."

3rd Trimester Late-Term Abortion | Induction Abortion | What Is Abortion?

The Backstory:

Hern announced his retirement on January 22, 2025, 50 years from the day he initially opened his abortion facility. He has referred to pregnancy itself as a potentially fatal illness, and a life-threatening medical condition, even when a woman experiences no complications.

He has also called human beings a "planetary cancer."

After Hern said he would be closing the facility altogether, the staffers said they were shocked and blindsided, and vowed to reopen. They created the RISE Collective — which stands for Reproductive Health, Inclusive Care, Support and Empowerment — and said their focus at the beginning would be solely on late-term abortion, and then later, would expand to abortion through all three trimesters of pregnancy.

“There’s only about 15 doctors in the country that do later [abortion] work, and we have 20% of those doctors in our group," Moreno said. "We’re trying to keep the band together.”

And while the group enthusiastically touted its donors, there is the question of whether RISE will be operating in Hern's old facility or in a new one altogether.

While Hern's home was lavish, his abortion facility was in disrepair:

Security costs and debts have become so ‘crippling,’ Hern said, that he delayed building a new facility. For now, he’s stuck with the 70-year-old building’s plumbing problems, finicky water heater and uneven clay foundation.

... Back home on a recent evening, Hern considered the stunning mountain vista framed by the front window of his living room. His wildlife photography covered the walls surrounding his gleaming grand piano.

The Bottom Line:

Women deserve better than another abortion facility taking the lives of preborn children, even when they're old enough to survive outside the womb. This is not health care.