Police suspect arson in hearth at Wyoming abortion clinic website

Police imagine an in a single day fireplace in Wyoming that damaged a building being renovated to accommodate 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 broken in a fire early Wednesday that police imagine was intentionally set — possibly by somebody seen operating away from the building carrying what gave the impression to be a gasoline can and a bag.

The blaze broken the inside of the constructing under 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 provide other health care providers for ladies, had been set to open in June as solely the second place in the state to offer abortions. Wyoming’s current lone location for women to get abortions is at a hospital in Jackson, 281 miles (452 kilometers) away.

A person who referred to as authorities earlier than dawn noticed someone operating from the building with what seemed to be a gas can and a black bag, police said in a Fb post. Investigators have been reviewing video footage from the realm 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 telephone messages. The building had video cameras that were functioning, and police got access to them, she said.

“Whether 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 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 signs opposing abortion have been seen Wednesday in a window of an apartment next door to the constructing.

Wyoming is considered one of 13 U.S. states with a so-called trigger legislation that will immediately 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 may occur soon.

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