Small fire under investigation at Planned Parenthood clinic
Source: Associated Press
Updated 10:57 am CST, Monday, February 11, 2019
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) Authorities say they're investigating a suspicious fire at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Missouri that is seeking to regain its ability to offer abortions.
Columbia police said officers responded to an alarm at the clinic on Sunday around 4 a.m. A small fire had started inside the structure and the building's sprinkler system extinguished it. Firefighters told police the blaze was "suspicious in nature," according to a statement from the police department.
Police spokesman Jeff Pitts said Monday that the investigation was ongoing and that he couldn't discuss the cause of the blaze or whether it might be related to the abortion issue.
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The Columbia Planned Parenthood clinic has been unable to secure physician privileges or find a doctor with those privileges after a panel of medical staff at University of Missouri Health Care voted to stop offering those privileges altogether in 2015. The vote came amid a Republican-led legislative investigation on abortion in the state.
Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Small-fire-under-investigation-at-Planned-13606785.php