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 workplace in Wisconsin.

The headquarters of Wisconsin Household Action 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. Nobody was hurt.

In an announcement reported on Tuesday by the Lincoln Journal Star, which stated it was unable to confirm the group’s authenticity, Jane’s Revenge said it launched the attack due to the organization’s anti-abortion stance, and demanded that similar establishments across the US disband or face “increasingly extreme ways”.

“Wisconsin is the first flashpoint, but we are all over the US, and we'll concern no additional warnings,” the statement mentioned, citing the violence of anti-choice groups who “bomb [abortion] clinics and assassinate doctors with impunity” as justification.

The Madison assault got here days after the leaking of a supreme courtroom draft ruling that would 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) instructed the Guardian that its agents were aware of the group’s claims of responsibility, however cited the continued investigation for being unable to provide more particulars.

The Madison police division stated it was “aware of a gaggle claiming responsibility for the arson at Wisconsin Household Motion and are working with our federal companions to find out the veracity of that declare”.

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

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

The Madison police chief, Shon Barnes, said no suspects had to this point been recognized. Authorities have been expected to offer 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 promoting marriage, family, life and liberty.

“We help the sanctity of human life from the second of conception by pure death. This includes opposing laws that promotes the destruction of human life – which begins at conception – by means of 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 have to see a much stronger message of condemnation of this activity from our Governor [and] from local legislation enforcement,” he wrote.

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

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

An attack 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 facilities.

Arson, bombings, murders and acid attacks were among greater than 300 acts of extreme 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 supplier, was shot useless 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 menace of violence towards personnel. Six states, MS mentioned, had only one abortion provider, principally small, impartial operators who were thought-about most at risk.

“Abortion clinics have been closing at an alarming charge,” the article mentioned. “Impartial suppliers are probably the most weak to anti-abortion attacks and violence directed at their staff.”