Wake-Up Call: The doctor is still in

Dr. Warren Hern just keeps making headlines -- whether he wants them or not. For decades, he's practiced behind bulletproof glass at his Boulder clinic, occasionally attracting the attention of publications ranging from Westword (you can read one of our profiles here) to the current edition of Esquire, whose "The...

By Patricia Calhoun

August 27, 2009

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Dr. Warren Hern just keeps making headlines -- whether he wants them or not. For decades, he's practiced behind bulletproof glass at his Boulder clinic, occasionally attracting the attention of publications ranging from Westword (you can read one of our profiles here) to the current edition of Esquire, whose "The Last Abortion Doctor" describes how, after the murder of Dr. George Tiller in May, Hern became the last physician in the country to perform late-term abortions.

That dedication has gotten Hern headlines, and also his own threats. As the Denver Post reports today, a seventy-year-old Spokane real estate broker has just been indicted on suspicion of making threats against Hern in June, only three weeks after Tiller was slain inside his Wichita church.

Those are headlines Hern could live without.

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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