PULLMAN, Wash. — Fire investigators in Washington state have determined that an early morning blaze at a Planned Parenthood clinic was arson.
Pullman Fire Department investigator Chris Wehrung said Friday afternoon that the cause is arson, but a joint task force is still investigating and he declined to release other details.
The pre-dawn fire heavily damaged a clinic in the college town of Pullman.
Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Tanya Riordan told The Spokesman-Review that the fire may keep the clinic closed for a month or more.
The FBI and other federal agencies are involved because of the history of anti-abortion activists targeting health care providers offering abortion services.
Planned Parenthood has been under fire since an anti-abortion group, the Center for Medical Progress, recently started posting secretly recorded videos online. The tapes show Planned Parenthood engaged in the sales of fetal tissue.
Republicans have threatened to hold up the budget process in Congress or even shut down the government in an effort to defund Planned Parenthood. Some Republicans have threatened to push for cutting off the group's federal support, perhaps tying that demand to several must-pass tax-and-spending measures set to come before Congress after its long August vacation.
Lawmakers will return to Washington on Sept. 8.
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