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Breaking -- Apparent Car Bomb Explosion Outside Palm Springs Fertility Clinic (1st Update) [1]
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Date: 2025-05-17
from NBC News:
A powerful explosion rocked Palm Springs on Saturday, May 17, heavily damaging a fertility clinic and shattering windows at multiple other businesses, with residents reporting feeling the force of the blast miles away. There was no official word of injuries, but Palm Springs police Lt. William Hutchinson told the Desert Sun at the scene there appeared to be at least one fatality. An image posted online by a witness showed what appeared to be a body near the blast scene. The explosion occurred around 11 a.m. in the 1100 block of North Indian Canyon Drive, either in or near an American Reproductive Centers fertility clinic, which was extensively damaged. The clinic is near the Desert Regional Medical Center. Some reports indicated the blast may have been a car explosion in a vehicle parked near the clinic. A heavily damaged vehicle was visible near the scene, but it remained unclear if it was the source of the blast or if it was just damaged by the explosion.
This is a developing story, so I’ll provide updates as they occur. No idea yet if the fertility clinic that was damaged also provided abortion services or not, but this certainly appears to be some sort of (suicide?) terrorist incident.
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1st UPDATE: It’s now confirmed to be a car bomb explosion. From the LA Times:
Palm Springs Mayor Ron DeHarte told The Times via text message he could “confirm it was a bomb in or near a vehicle parked at the building. One deceased.” The Desert Sun newspaper reported that Palm Springs Police Lt. William Hutchinson said the explosion appeared to involve a car parked in front of American Reproductive Centers. One witness told the newspaper that he saw body parts and car parts when he walked past the clinic five minutes after the blast. The phone line to the clinic was out of service Saturday afternoon. The city of Palm Springs requested that residents stay away from the scene so emergency crews could work unimpeded. American Reproductive Centers is “Coachella Valley’s first and only full-service fertility center and IVF lab,” led by board-certified physician Maher A. Abdallah, according to its website. Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a social media post that his office had been briefed on the explosion and “is coordinating with local and federal authorities to support the response.”
The good news is that no one at the fertility clinic was injured (not sure if the clinic was even open on a Saturday), and as cbastion confirms in a comment below, this clinic does not provide abortion services — so if they were indeed the target of this attack, either it was a case of mistaken identity, or perhaps even more ominously, some of the more extreme forced birthers are now targeting IVF services as well. Here’s a picture of the damage done to the clinic from USA Today:
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