A college student admitted setting fire to a building that was going to be Wyoming’s only full-service abortion center. On Friday, the student was supposed to go to federal court to say how he or she feels about the arson charge.
Lorna Roxanne Green, who is 22 years old, told investigators that she doesn’t like abortions and was worried about the Wellspring Health Access clinic that was going to open in Casper, Wyoming, last year. She was also having nightmares about it, so she burned it down, according to court papers.
Investigators say that on May 25, 2022, she broke a window, filled metal baking pans with gasoline, and set them on fire. The clinic, which had attracted anti-abortion protesters, was supposed to open a few weeks later, but because of the fire damage, it couldn’t start seeing patients until March.
The tweet below verifies the news:
College student accused of setting fire to Wyoming’s only abortion clinic to enter plea https://t.co/KGNpVAlmB0
— ClickOnDetroit (@clickondetroit) June 2, 2023
The clinic is the only one in Wyoming to offer surgical abortions in at least ten years. The clinic says that it also offers abortion pills, women’s health care, family planning, and health care that accepts both men and women.
Before Wellspring started, there was only one other clinic in Wyoming that did medication abortions. It was a women’s health center in Jackson, which was about 250 miles (400 km) away.
Even though lawmakers in conservative Wyoming passed a law that bans abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is in danger, abortions are still allowed there. But a state judge put the ban on hold while a case against it goes forward.
Wyoming was also the first state to explicitly ban abortion pills. Abortion pills have been legal for decades and have become the most common way to get an abortion in the United States. The ban won’t be in place until July 1.
Police shared surveillance footage of a woman in a mask and hooded shirt at the clinic building soon after the fire at the Casper facility. But Green wasn’t caught until March when tipsters said she might be a suspect after the prize was raised to $15,000.
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If found guilty, Green could get up to 20 years in jail and a $250,000 fine. Ryan Semerad, her lawyer, has said that he is looking forward to defending Green in court.
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