Woman says she set fire to abortion clinic after having nightmares caused by its opening

A 22-year-old Wyoming woman has pleaded guilty to setting fire to the state’s first full-service abortion clinic in years that was being built, setting its opening back by almost a year, officials said this week.

Lorna Roxanne Green agreed to plead guilty to a federal arson charge on Thursday and will face between five and 20 years in prison plus a hefty fine, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming said in a press release.

Green told investigators she set fire to the Casper, Wyoming clinic in the early morning hours of May 25, 2022, because she opposed abortion and had nightmares, “which she attributed to her anxiety about the abortion clinic,” according to a criminal complaint obtained by USA TODAY.

The clinic, Wellspring Health Access, which was scheduled to open June 2022 according to the complaint, was set to provide gender-affirming services, OB-GYN care and abortion procedures. It finally opened in April 2023. Only one other abortion clinic exists in the state, and it offers only pill abortions.

Abortion has remained legal in Wyoming amid a lawsuit challenging new bans, including what would be the nation’s first explicit ban on abortion pills. A judge blocked the laws while the lawsuit proceeds.

Investigators went months without identifying the suspect, but received tips after offering a $15,000 reward that identified Green. She was arrested in March.

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Security cameras showed the suspect, later identified as Green, throwing a rock at glass in a door and entering the building, carrying what looked like trash bags, according to the complaint. She poured gasoline on the floor, and the footage shows her slipping and falling in it. At one point she lowered the surgical mask she wore and her face was visible to a camera.

There was “significant” fire and smoke damage, according to the criminal complaint against Green.

“The fire had engulfed a room and spread to other rooms and down a hallway,” the complaint said. Pans of gasoline were found in the building.

Julie Burkhart, president of Wellspring Health Access, said earlier this year after Green’s arrest she was “relieved that a suspect has finally been arrested,” adding the arson “created a ripple of apprehension and fear across the Casper community.”