A front window is boarded up at the Planned Parenthood Health Center at 2709 Knoxville Avenue in Peoria, Ill., on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. Peoria police and fire officials are investigating a fire at the Planned Parenthood clinic as arson, police said Tuesday. The incident occurred Sunday night, two days after Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law reproductive health care legislation to protect out-of-state abortion seekers. (Matt Dayhoff/Journal Star via AP)
A front window is boarded up at the Planned Parenthood Health Center at 2709 Knoxville Avenue in Peoria, Ill., on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. Peoria police and fire officials are investigating a fire at the Planned Parenthood clinic as arson, police said Tuesday. The incident occurred Sunday night, two days after Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law reproductive health care legislation to protect out-of-state abortion seekers. (Matt Dayhoff/Journal Star via AP)
CHICAGO (AP) — A fire at a central Illinois Planned Parenthood clinic is being investigated as arson, Peoria police said Tuesday, just days after the state enacted sweeping abortion protections.
Officers responded to a report of an “unknown person throwing a Molotov cocktail†into the Peoria clinic building at about 11:30 p.m. Sunday, police spokesperson Semone Roth said.
Peoria police and fire officials are investigating the blaze, and no suspects have been identified or arrests made, Roth said.
The incident occurred two days after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law to protect out-of-state abortion seekers, adding Illinois to the list of states that have placed legal reinforcements around the procedure after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to .
No patients or staff were inside during the fire, but it caused “significant damage†to the building, said Jennifer Welch, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Illinois in a statement.
The clinic is currently closed, and the organization is rescheduling patients who had appointments to other health care centers, and offering transportation assistance to those who need it.
The Peoria Planned Parenthood location offered medication abortion but was not a site for in-clinic procedures, said Welch, who pledged to prosecute the perpetrator “to the fullest extent of the law.â€
“The vast majority of our Peoria Health Center patients were coming to us for family planning, STI testing and treatment and other reproductive health care," she said. “This act of vandalism will have a devastating impact on the community’s ability to access birth control, cancer screenings and gender-affirming care."
Anti-abortion organization Illinois Right to Life executive director Mary Kate Zander condemned the incident, saying: “We would never condone violence against any Planned Parenthood or any other abortion clinic." She added: “The primary reason that we stand against abortion is that it’s an act of violence. So it would be hypocritical of us to not say the same in the case of an act of violence against abortion workers.†___
Savage is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
¹ú²úÓÕ»ó¸£Àû. All rights reserved.
For many Indigenous communities, access to financial services and economic opportu…
Trust in international money transfers has long been tied to physical places: a ba…
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Tax: | |
| Today's total: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
