Police suspect arson in fire at Wyoming abortion clinic website

Police imagine an in a single day hearth in Wyoming that broken a building being renovated to deal with a new abortion clinic was deliberately set

By

MEAD GRUVER Related Press

Might 25, 2022, 3:57 PM ET

• 2 min learn

CASPER, Wyo. -- An abortion clinic set to open subsequent month in conservative Wyoming was broken in a fire early Wednesday that police believe was deliberately set — possibly by somebody seen working away from the constructing carrying what appeared to be a fuel can and a bag.

The blaze broken the inside of the building under renovation to deal with the clinic in Casper, the second-biggest city in a state where opposition to abortion is widespread.

The clinic, which additionally deliberate to offer different health care companies for girls, had been set to open in June as only the second place within the state to supply 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 saw somebody running from the building with what seemed to be a fuel can and a black bag, police stated in a Facebook put up. Investigators have been reviewing video footage from the area in hopes of figuring out the suspect or generating a suspect description, police said. No accidents were reported.

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

“Whether you’re in opposition to abortion or assist 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 site, and signs opposing abortion had been visible Wednesday in a window of an condominium next door to the constructing.

Wyoming is one in all 13 U.S. states with a so-called trigger legislation 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 happen soon.

Police temporarily closed off the road the place the small constructing is located as officers investigated. Several of the building's windows had been broken, and smoke injury was seen round one shattered window.