Professional-choice group claims arson attack on Wisconsin anti-abortion workplace | Wisconsin

Federal agents and detectives from the Madison police department are investigating a declare by a pro-choice group that it was behind a weekend arson assault on an anti-abortion workplace in Wisconsin.

The headquarters of Wisconsin Family Action in Madison was attacked in the early hours of Sunday, with a molotov cocktail thrown by a window, beginning a small fire, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. Nobody was hurt.

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

“Wisconsin is the first flashpoint, however we're everywhere in the US, and we will difficulty no additional 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 attack got here days after the leaking of a supreme court draft ruling that might overturn its 1973 Roe v Wade choice and end almost half a century of constitutional abortion protections.

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

The Madison police department said it was “conscious of a group claiming duty for the arson at Wisconsin Family Action and are working with our federal partners to determine the veracity of that claim”.

It urged anybody with related info to make contact, saying: “We take all info and suggestions associated to this case seriously 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 attack of a pro-life advocacy office in Madison”.

The Madison police chief, Shon Barnes, mentioned no suspects had thus far been identified. Authorities have been anticipated to offer an additional update on Tuesday afternoon.

In a values statement on its web site, Wisconsin Family Action (WFA) describes itself as a Judeo-Christian group dedicated to “strengthening, preserving, and promoting marriage, family, life and liberty.

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

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

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

At a press conference on Monday, Evers referred to as the assault “a horrible incident”.

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

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

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

In March, MS journal reported that the variety of brick-and-mortar abortion clinics nationwide had dropped precipitously, partly because of the constant menace of violence towards personnel. Six states, MS said, had just one abortion provider, principally small, unbiased operators who had been thought of most at risk.

“Abortion clinics have been closing at an alarming rate,” the article mentioned. “Independent suppliers are essentially the most susceptible to anti-abortion assaults and violence directed at their staff.”