A woman serving five years in prison for setting fire to Wyoming’s only full-service abortion clinic last year was ordered by a judge Tuesday to pay nearly $300,000 in damages.
Lorna Green, the 22-year-old whose act of arson caused severe damage to Wellspring Health Access in Casper as it was preparing to open, must pay some $240,000 to the clinic’s insurance company, about $33,000 to the owner of the clinic building and about $24,500 to the clinic’s president, U.S. District Court Judge Alan Johnson ruled.
The payment totals the full restitution requested by prosecutors.
Green’s lawyer told The Associated Press on Wednesday that his client “looks forward to a productive and peaceful life after her term of incarceration.”
In July, Green pleaded guilty to breaking into Wellspring Health Access, pouring gasoline around the building and setting it ablaze in May of last year, just weeks before the clinic was supposed to open and start providing surgical and medication abortions.
The arson delayed the opening of the clinic by nearly a year, severely limiting Wyoming patients’ reproductive health options in the meantime. The one other abortion provider in the state ― 250 miles away, in Jackson ― only provides medication abortion, which is not an option later in pregnancy.
“While I deeply regret my actions, I accept complete responsibility for what I have done,” Green said while submitting her guilty plea.
She told investigators that her opposition to abortion, as well as anxiety and nightmares about the clinic’s opening ― a huge point of contention in deep-red Wyoming at the time ― led her to buy supplies and torch the clinic. She was captured on camera carrying out the attack, but it took investigators nearly a year to identify her.
A strict abortion ban has been passed and enacted in Wyoming, but it’s currently on hold due to a court injunction.
Green faced a maximum of 20 years in prison but was given only five, the minimum prison sentence for her crimes.