Arrest made in fire at planned Wyoming abortion clinic

Authorities say a suspect has been arrested for setting fire to a building that was slated to become Wyoming’s only full-service abortion clinic

Abortion-Wyoming-Explainer (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

A woman was arrested for setting fire to a building in Wyoming that was being renovated to house the state’s only full-service abortion clinic, authorities said Wednesday.

Lorna Roxanne Green, 22, of Casper, was arrested on Tuesday, police said.

The fire was set on May 25, 2022, at a stucco house in Casper, the state’s second-largest city and the site of frequent anti-abortion protests.

A person who called police said they heard glass breaking and saw a person leaving the area carrying a gas can and a black bag. Security video released by police showed a woman in a hooded shirt and mask carrying what appeared to be a red fuel can through a room of the building just before the fire.

No one was injured in the blaze, which left the house with broken windows and smoke damage.

The clinic had been scheduled to open last summer as the only facility of its kind in the state, offering women’s health care, family planning and gender-affirming health care in addition to abortion services. But the fire delayed those plans.

It was then slated to open next month, but that’s in doubt because Gov. Mark Gordon allowed a broad new abortion ban to take effect on Sunday without his signature. It is possible that a judge who suspended the state’s previous abortion ban could decide to suspend this one, too.

Prior to the latest ban, a clinic in the mountain town of Jackson provided medication abortions.