Pro-choice group claims arson attack on Wisconsin anti-abortion office | 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 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 a window, beginning a small fire, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. No person was hurt.

In a press release reported on Tuesday by the Lincoln Journal Star, which mentioned it was unable to verify the group’s authenticity, Jane’s Revenge mentioned it launched the attack because of the group’s anti-abortion stance, and demanded that similar establishments across the US disband or face “increasingly extreme techniques”.

“Wisconsin is the first flashpoint, however we are all over the US, and we are going to issue no further warnings,” the statement said, citing the violence of anti-choice groups who “bomb [abortion] clinics and assassinate docs with impunity” as justification.

The Madison attack got here days after the leaking of a supreme courtroom draft ruling that will overturn its 1973 Roe v Wade determination and end virtually half a century of constitutional abortion protections.

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) instructed the Guardian that its brokers have been aware of the group’s claims of duty, however cited the ongoing investigation for being unable to offer more particulars.

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

It urged anybody with relevant data to make contact, saying: “We take all data and ideas related to this case seriously and are working to vet every one.”

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

The Madison police chief, Shon Barnes, said no suspects had up to now been identified. Authorities had been expected to give a further update on Tuesday afternoon.

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

“We support the sanctity of human life from the second of conception by way of natural loss of life. This consists of opposing legislation that promotes the destruction of human life – which starts at conception – through abortion and other 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 have to see a much stronger message of condemnation of this activity from our Governor [and] from local 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 accept that type of violence here.”

An attack on an anti-abortion workplace is a relative rarity in contrast 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 amenities.

Arson, bombings, murders and acid assaults were among greater than 300 acts of maximum 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 lifeless in a church in Wichita.

In March, MS journal reported that the number of brick-and-mortar abortion clinics nationwide had dropped precipitously, partly because of the constant threat of violence against personnel. Six states, MS stated, had only one abortion supplier, mostly small, impartial operators who have been considered most in danger.

“Abortion clinics have been closing at an alarming fee,” the article stated. “Unbiased providers are essentially the most weak to anti-abortion assaults and violence directed at their staff.”