Police suspect arson in fireplace at Wyoming abortion clinic site

Police believe an overnight fire in Wyoming that broken a constructing being renovated to house a new abortion clinic was deliberately set

By

MEAD GRUVER Related Press

Could 25, 2022, 3:57 PM ET

• 2 min learn

CASPER, Wyo. -- An abortion clinic set to open next month in conservative Wyoming was damaged in a hearth early Wednesday that police consider was deliberately set — presumably by someone seen running away from the constructing carrying what seemed to be a fuel can and a bag.

The blaze damaged the within of the constructing underneath renovation to accommodate the clinic in Casper, the second-biggest metropolis in a state where opposition to abortion is widespread.

The clinic, which additionally planned to supply different well being care providers for women, had been set to open in June as only the second place within the state to supply abortions. Wyoming’s present lone location for women to get abortions is at a hospital in Jackson, 281 miles (452 kilometers) away.

An individual who known as authorities before daybreak noticed someone working from the building with what gave the impression to be a gas can and a black bag, police said in a Facebook publish. Investigators have been reviewing video footage from the world in hopes of identifying the suspect or producing a suspect description, police stated. No accidents had been reported.

Julie Burkhart, the clinic’s director, mentioned 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 said.

“Whether or not you’re towards abortion or support abortion rights, you’re not going to make abortion go away,” said Burkhart, a former associate 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 at the future clinic website, and signs opposing abortion have been visible Wednesday in a window of an apartment subsequent door to the constructing.

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

Police temporarily closed off the road the place the small building is located as officers investigated. A number of of the constructing's home windows have been broken, and smoke injury was seen around one shattered window.