Police suspect arson in fireplace at Wyoming abortion clinic web site

Police believe an overnight fire in Wyoming that broken a building being renovated to accommodate a brand new abortion clinic was intentionally set

By

MEAD GRUVER Related Press

Might 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 deliberately set — presumably by somebody seen running away from the constructing carrying what gave the impression to be a gas can and a bag.

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

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

An individual who referred to as authorities earlier than daybreak noticed someone running from the constructing with what appeared to be a fuel can and a black bag, police said in a Fb post. Investigators have been reviewing video footage from the area in hopes of figuring out the suspect or producing a suspect description, police said. No injuries have been reported.

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

“Whether you’re in opposition to abortion or help abortion rights, you’re not going to make abortion go away,” mentioned 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 at the future clinic website, and signs opposing abortion have been seen Wednesday in a window of an apartment next door to the constructing.

Wyoming is one in every of 13 U.S. states with a so-called trigger law that will 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 happen soon.

Police quickly closed off the road the place the small constructing is situated as officers investigated. Several of the building's windows have been broken, and smoke damage was seen around one shattered window.