No appointments scheduled at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Mount Auburn were canceled in the wake of the April 9 fire at the building, Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio CEO Nan Whaley said.
Whaley, the former mayor of Dayton, spoke to the press April 14 in front of the Hamilton County Courthouse in Cincinnati and reiterated that her organization and staff will not be intimidated by violence.
Whaley said the leadership team at the clinic stayed throughout the night and were ready to resume operations first thing in the morning on April 10. She said this clinic serves women all over the Midwest and the South, adding that some women travel days to get there.
The fire at the Auburn Avenue location is being investigated as arson, officials say, but as of April 14 no arrest had been made.
The facility’s medical director, Dr. Gwynne Perry, said her first reaction to hearing about the fire was: “Oh, hell no.”
“No one should fear for their safety when providing or receiving health care,” she said. “Our commitment doesn’t falter. We do not back down. We will not give up.”
The fire broke out around 11 p.m. April 9 and was mostly contained by the building sprinkler system, the Cincinnati Fire Department reported.
The fire was caused by an intruder who entered the building, according to a statement by Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio. Whaley called the fire an “attack.”
Whaley said Planned Parenthood staff are the targets of political violence every day, and noted that this fire isn’t the first at the Mount Auburn clinic.
The same location was firebombed by a man who claimed to be a member of “the Army of God for the unborn” in 1985 when it was Planned Parenthood’s Margaret Sanger Center. That fire destroyed the building requiring it to be rebuilt, according to Enquirer reports from the time.
John Brockhoeft, of Hebron, was sentenced to 7 years in prison for causing the fire. He also set fire to the Women’s Health Care Clinic in Mount Auburn.
Brockhoeft wasn’t arrested until 1987 when he was plotting to bomb a Florida abortion clinic. Investigators found bombmaking material in his home. For that he was sentenced to 30 months in prison.
Brockhoeft, who showed no remorse for the crime and continued to publish an anti-abortion newsletter from prison, was released in 1995.
Whaley and Perry were joined by a bevy of elected officials on April 14 including Congressman Greg Landsman, Mayor Aftab Pureval and Ohio Representative Ashley Bryant Bailey.
Bailey said the nonprofit Planned Parenthood doesn’t just offer abortion, but also birth control, pre-natal care and other services. She wanted to remind the public that the majority of Ohioans voted to support legal abortion in the state.
“When extremist rhetoric becomes extremist action, that is on all of us to condemn,” Bailey said.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: ‘We will not give up.’ Planned Parenthood fire investigated as arson
Reporting by Cameron Knight, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
