Manhunt for alleged arsonist at Illinois family planning clinic days after state passes new abortion rights laws

An arsonist driving a pickup truck set fire to a Planned Parenthood clinic in central Illinois, police said Tuesday, just days after the state passed new laws protecting abortion rights.

The assailant fired “accelerator fire” around 11:31 p.m. CT Sunday on the 2700 block of North Knoxville Avenue, Planned Parenthood and Peoria police said.

The Peoria Fire Department extinguished the blaze, which was “limited to one room” as one “firefighter suffered non-life-threatening injuries,” police said in a statement.

A family planning clinic in Peoria, Illinois was the target of an arson attack.
A family planning clinic in Peoria, Illinois was the target of an arson attack.A WEEK

There was no one in the building at the time of the attack.

The arsonist “threw an accelerator out the window, setting the building on fire,” Illinois Planned Parenthood CEO Jennifer Welch said in a statement.

“Senseless acts of vandalism have increased across the country, and Illinois has become a target due to an increase in extreme and divisive rhetoric,” Welch added.

“The preliminary cause of the fire was arson,” said police, who also released photos of the suspect’s pickup truck.

The fire was ignited just over two days after Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker on Friday signed into law a comprehensive reproductive health legislation that protects out-of-state abortion seekers and adds other guarantees for abortion rights in the sixth the most populous state of America with a population of 12.6 million inhabitants.

According to Planned Parenthood, the site that was attacked on Sunday does not provide “clinical procedures” but provides other reproductive and sexual health services.

“This act of vandalism will have a devastating impact on society’s ability to access contraceptives, cancer screening and gender-affirming treatment,” Welch said.

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