Police suspect arson in fire at Wyoming abortion clinic website

Police consider an in a single day fire in Wyoming that damaged a constructing being renovated to deal with a brand 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 fire early Wednesday that police imagine was intentionally set — presumably by somebody seen running away from the constructing carrying what appeared to be a gas can and a bag.

The blaze broken the within of the constructing below 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 deliberate to supply different well being care companies for women, had been set to open in June as solely the second place within the state to offer abortions. Wyoming’s current lone location for ladies to get abortions is at a hospital in Jackson, 281 miles (452 kilometers) away.

A person who known as authorities earlier than daybreak saw someone working from the constructing with what appeared to be a gasoline can and a black bag, police stated in a Facebook submit. Investigators had been reviewing video footage from the world in hopes of identifying the suspect or producing a suspect description, police stated. No injuries have been 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 were given access to them, she stated.

“Whether you’re in opposition to abortion or assist abortion rights, you’re not going to make abortion go away,” said 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 at the future clinic site, and indicators opposing abortion had been visible Wednesday in a window of an house next door to the building.

Wyoming is one in every of 13 U.S. states with a so-called trigger regulation that will instantly outlaw abortion if the Roe v. Wade choice that legalized it nationwide is overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court docket. A leaked draft of a ruling suggests that may occur quickly.

Police temporarily closed off the road where the small building is situated as officers investigated. A number of of the building's home windows had been broken, and smoke harm was seen round one shattered window.