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 house a new abortion clinic was intentionally set

By

MEAD GRUVER Associated Press

Could 25, 2022, 3:57 PM ET

• 2 min read

CASPER, Wyo. -- An abortion clinic set to open subsequent month in conservative Wyoming was damaged in a fire early Wednesday that police consider was intentionally set — possibly by somebody seen running away from the constructing carrying what gave the impression to be a fuel can and a bag.

The blaze damaged the inside of the constructing beneath renovation to deal with the clinic in Casper, the second-biggest metropolis in a state the place opposition to abortion is widespread.

The clinic, which also deliberate to provide other well being care companies for girls, had been set to open in June as solely the second place in the state to offer abortions. Wyoming’s current lone location for girls to get abortions is at a hospital in Jackson, 281 miles (452 kilometers) away.

A person who called authorities earlier than dawn noticed somebody working from the building with what gave the impression to be a gasoline can and a black bag, police said in a Fb submit. Investigators had been reviewing video footage from the realm in hopes of figuring out the suspect or generating a suspect description, police mentioned. No accidents have been reported.

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

“Whether you’re towards abortion or help abortion rights, you’re not going to make abortion go away,” mentioned Burkhart, a former affiliate of Dr. George Tiller, an abortion supplier 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 were visible Wednesday in a window of an house next door to the constructing.

Wyoming is one of 13 U.S. states with a so-called trigger legislation that will immediately outlaw abortion if the Roe v. Wade determination that legalized it nationwide is overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. A leaked draft of a ruling suggests that can occur quickly.

Police quickly closed off the road the place the small building is located as officers investigated. A number of of the building's windows had been broken, and smoke damage was visible around one shattered window.