Woman Pleads Guilty to Setting Fire to Casper Abortion Clinic

By Ellen Fike

Special to the Wyoming Truth

The woman suspected of causing nearly $300,000 in damage to a Casper abortion clinic in May 2022 pleaded guilty to using gasoline to set fire to the building.

Lorna Roxanne Green, 22, pleaded guilty to one felony count of arson of a facility engaged in interstate commerce, Wellspring Health Access, in U.S. District Court in Cheyenne on Thursday afternoon. The change of plea hearing took about 40 minutes, and Judge Alan B. Johnson accepted her plea.

Green, who was indicted for the crime last month, will be sentenced at 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 6. She faces anywhere from five to 20 years in prison, as well as a $250,000 fine.

The fire delayed Wellspring’s opening by nearly a year. The clinic provides surgical and medical abortions, OB/GYN services and gender-affirming care.

Wellspring president Julie Burkhart said in a statement that she and the team at the clinic were relieved that the case will soon be resolved and justice for Green will be served.

“On April 20, we finally opened our doors to the patients who need us and have been providing quality reproductive health care to the Mountain West ever since,” Burkhart said. “While we are glad that this perpetrator has been brought to justice, we at Wellspring Health Access know all too well that the potential for anti-abortion violence has not gone away.

“According to the National Abortion Federation, there was a sharp increase in threats and violence against abortion providers last year,” Burkhart continued. “That risk underwrites our work every day, and yet our staff continue to show up because our patients deserve access to abortion care and the full spectrum of reproductive health care. We will not be deterred from our mission.”

Green was arrested in March after Casper police received several tips linking her to the crime.

She was taken to jail immediately following Thursday’s hearing, according to court documents.