Pro-choice group claims arson assault on Wisconsin anti-abortion office | Wisconsin

Federal brokers and detectives from the Madison police department are investigating a claim by a pro-choice group that it was behind a weekend arson attack on an anti-abortion office in Wisconsin.

The headquarters of Wisconsin Family Motion in Madison was attacked within the early hours of Sunday, with a molotov cocktail thrown by way of a window, beginning a small hearth, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. No person was hurt.

In a statement reported on Tuesday by the Lincoln Journal Star, which said it was unable to verify the group’s authenticity, Jane’s Revenge mentioned it launched the assault due to the organization’s anti-abortion stance, and demanded that similar institutions across the US disband or face “more and more excessive tactics”.

“Wisconsin is the primary flashpoint, however we're everywhere in the US, and we'll subject no further warnings,” the statement mentioned, citing the violence of anti-choice groups who “bomb [abortion] clinics and assassinate medical doctors with impunity” as justification.

The Madison assault came days after the leaking of a supreme courtroom draft ruling that might overturn its 1973 Roe v Wade resolution and end nearly half a century of constitutional abortion protections.

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) advised the Guardian that its agents had been aware of the group’s claims of accountability, however cited the continued investigation for being unable to provide extra details.

The Madison police division said it was “conscious of a bunch claiming accountability for the arson at Wisconsin Household Motion and are working with our federal partners to determine the veracity of that declare”.

It urged anyone with related data to make contact, saying: “We take all data and suggestions related to this case severely and are working to vet each and every one.”

At a press conference on Monday afternoon, the Madison PD and ATF brokers announced a joint investigation into what it called an “abortion extremism case involving an arson and graffiti assault of a pro-life advocacy workplace in Madison”.

The Madison police chief, Shon Barnes, stated no suspects had to this point been recognized. Authorities were expected to give an additional update on Tuesday afternoon.

In a values assertion on its website, Wisconsin Household Motion (WFA) describes itself as a Judeo-Christian group dedicated to “strengthening, preserving, and promoting marriage, household, life and liberty.

“We help the sanctity of human life from the second of conception by way of natural death. This includes opposing legislation that promotes the destruction of human life – which begins at conception – by way of abortion and different means,” it says.

Jack Hoogendyk, the WFA board chairman, attacked the response to the attack in a tweet posted on Tuesday morning, singling out Wisconsin’s Democratic governor, Tony Evers, and Madison PD detectives.

“We need to see a a lot stronger message of condemnation of this exercise from our Governor [and] from native regulation enforcement,” he wrote.

At a press convention on Monday, Evers called the assault “a horrible incident”.

Calling for a full investigation and arrests, he added: “As the state of Wisconsin, we don’t settle for that type of violence right here.”

An assault on an anti-abortion office is a relative rarity compared with assaults on abortion clinics and providers. In 2019, the Guardian reported on an “alarming escalation” in picketing, vandalism and trespassing by anti-abortion activists at medical facilities.

Arson, bombings, murders and acid attacks were amongst more than 300 acts of maximum violence recorded by the Rand Company between 1973 and 2003, and in some of the heinous incidents, in 2009, Dr George Tiller, a Kansas abortion provider, was shot dead in a church in Wichita.

In March, MS magazine reported that the variety of brick-and-mortar abortion clinics nationwide had dropped precipitously, partly due to the fixed threat of violence in opposition to personnel. Six states, MS mentioned, had just one abortion supplier, largely small, impartial operators who had been thought of most at risk.

“Abortion clinics have been closing at an alarming rate,” the article said. “Independent providers are probably the most vulnerable to anti-abortion assaults and violence directed at their staff.”