Police suspect arson in fireplace at Wyoming abortion clinic site

Police consider an in a single day fire in Wyoming that damaged a building being renovated to accommodate a brand new abortion clinic was intentionally set

By

MEAD GRUVER Associated Press

May 25, 2022, 3:57 PM ET

• 2 min learn

CASPER, Wyo. -- An abortion clinic set to open subsequent month in conservative Wyoming was broken in a fireplace early Wednesday that police consider was deliberately set — presumably by somebody seen operating away from the building carrying what appeared to be a gasoline can and a bag.

The blaze broken the inside of the building under renovation to deal with the clinic in Casper, the second-biggest metropolis in a state where opposition to abortion is widespread.

The clinic, which additionally planned to provide other health care services for ladies, had been set to open in June as solely the second place within the state to offer abortions. Wyoming’s present lone location for girls to get abortions is at a hospital in Jackson, 281 miles (452 kilometers) away.

An individual who referred to as authorities earlier than dawn noticed someone working from the constructing with what seemed to be a gasoline can and a black bag, police mentioned in a Facebook submit. Investigators have been reviewing video footage from the world in hopes of figuring out the suspect or generating a suspect description, police mentioned. No accidents were reported.

Julie Burkhart, the clinic’s director, said clinic organizers had been receiving harassing emails and phone messages. The building had video cameras that have been functioning, and police got access to them, she mentioned.

“Whether or not you’re in opposition to abortion or support abortion rights, you’re not going to make abortion go away,” stated Burkhart, a former affiliate of Dr. George Tiller, an abortion provider who was shot and killed in a Wichita, Kansas, church in 2009.

Protests have been held this spring by abortion opponents on the future clinic website, and indicators opposing abortion have been visible Wednesday in a window of an apartment next door to the constructing.

Wyoming is certainly one of 13 U.S. states with a so-called set off law that would instantly outlaw abortion if the Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized it nationwide is overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court docket. A leaked draft of a ruling suggests that will happen quickly.

Police briefly closed off the road the place the small constructing is positioned as officers investigated. A number of of the constructing's windows have been damaged, and smoke injury was seen around one shattered window.