A judge has sentenced 22-year-old Lorna Roxanne Green to five years in prison after she set fire to a clinic that provides abortions in Casper last year.
Green pleaded guilty to federal arson charges earlier this summer. In addition to prison time, she will serve a three-year probation period and pay upwards of $250,000 in restitution, according to United States Magistrate Judge Alan B. Johnson. Her five-year prison sentence is the mandatory minimum for this type of crime.
Green torched Wellspring Health Access last May, which caused nearly $300,000 in damages and delayed the clinic’s opening by almost a year. The now open facility is the only place to get a surgical abortion in Wyoming.
Prosecutors say Green’s sentence reflects the severity and recklessness of her crime. Wellspring founder Julie Burkhart said she hopes the news signals that anti-abortion violence has no place in society.
“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. This arson attack didn’t occur in a vacuum – it’s part of a broader pattern of anti-abortion violence and harassment,” Burkhart said.
Green and her parents told the Casper Star Tribune that they accept the punishment, but are “heartbroken by her incarceration.”
Prosecutors are requesting that Green serves her sentence in a minimum security prison in Texas or West Virginia.
