Police suspect arson in fireplace at Wyoming abortion clinic site

Police consider an in a single day hearth in Wyoming that damaged a building being renovated to deal with a new abortion clinic was intentionally set

By

MEAD GRUVER Related Press

Could 25, 2022, 3:57 PM ET

• 2 min learn

CASPER, Wyo. -- An abortion clinic set to open subsequent month in conservative Wyoming was damaged in a fireplace early Wednesday that police consider was intentionally set — presumably by someone seen operating away from the building carrying what seemed to be a fuel can and a bag.

The blaze broken the within of the constructing below renovation to house the clinic in Casper, the second-biggest metropolis in a state the place opposition to abortion is widespread.

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

A person who called authorities before daybreak noticed somebody working from the constructing with what seemed to be a gasoline can and a black bag, police mentioned in a Fb publish. Investigators have been reviewing video footage from the world in hopes of figuring out the suspect or producing a suspect description, police said. No injuries were reported.

Julie Burkhart, the clinic’s director, stated clinic organizers had been receiving harassing emails and telephone messages. The constructing had video cameras that have been functioning, and police were given entry 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 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 site, and indicators opposing abortion had been visible Wednesday in a window of an condo subsequent door to the constructing.

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

Police briefly closed off the street where the small building is located as officers investigated. A number of of the building's windows had been damaged, and smoke injury was visible around one shattered window.