Police suspect arson in hearth at Wyoming abortion clinic website

Police imagine an overnight hearth in Wyoming that broken a constructing being renovated to deal with a brand new abortion clinic was intentionally set

By

MEAD GRUVER Associated 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 broken in a fireplace early Wednesday that police consider was deliberately set — possibly by someone seen working away from the constructing carrying what gave the impression to be a fuel can and a bag.

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

The clinic, which additionally planned to supply other health care services for girls, had been set to open in June as solely the second place within the state to supply abortions. Wyoming’s present 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 before dawn noticed somebody running from the building with what gave the impression to be a gasoline can and a black bag, police mentioned in a Facebook submit. Investigators were reviewing video footage from the world in hopes of figuring out the suspect or producing a suspect description, police mentioned. No accidents have been 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 access to them, she said.

“Whether you’re against abortion or support 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 on the future clinic site, and signs opposing abortion have been seen Wednesday in a window of an condo next door to the constructing.

Wyoming is one of 13 U.S. states with a so-called set off law 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 will occur quickly.

Police temporarily closed off the street the place the small constructing is located as officers investigated. Several of the building's windows had been damaged, and smoke harm was visible around one shattered window.