A woman was arrested in Wyoming for allegedly setting fire to a building that was being renovated to house the state’s only full-service abortion clinic, officials said Wednesday, after a judge temporarily lifted a ban on abortions. Hours after application which became effective for a few days. Earlier
Wyoming US Attorney Nicholas Vassallo said in a statement that Lorna Roxanne Green, 22, of Casper was arrested Tuesday by Casper police and agents from the FBI and the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
If convicted, Green could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the statement. He is scheduled to appear in federal court in Cheyenne on Thursday morning.
The fire broke out on May 25, 2022, at a stucco house in Casper, the state’s second-largest city and the site of frequent anti-abortion protests.
An eyewitness told police that they heard glass shattering and saw a man walking through the area carrying a gas can and a black bag. Security video released by police shows a woman in a hooded shirt and niqab walking through a room in the building just before the fire broke out in what appears to be red fuel.
No one was injured in the fire, which left the planned Wellspring Health Access clinic damaged due to broken windows and smoke.
“Now that a suspect has been arrested, we can continue our focus on providing the Casper community with quality reproductive health care in a safe, compassionate environment,” WellSpring President Julie Burkhart said in a statement.
The clinic was set 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 expected to open the following month but was thrown into doubt after Gov. Mark Gordon allowed a sweeping new abortion ban to go into effect on Sunday without his signature. On Wednesday, Teton County District Court Judge Melissa Owens blocked the ban after a hearing in which abortion-rights advocates said the law harms pregnant women and their doctors and violates the state constitution. Owens suspended the ban for at least two weeks.
Prohibits abortion at all stages of pregnancy, except in cases of rape or incest that are reported to the police, or to save a woman’s life. An amendment to the Wyoming constitution states that adults have the right to make their own health care decisions, so Republicans enacted a ban that states that abortion is not health care.
Owens stopped the previous ban shortly after it took effect last summer.
Before the latest ban, one clinic in the mountain town of Jackson provided medication abortions.