Pro-choice group claims arson assault on Wisconsin anti-abortion workplace | 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 through a window, starting a small fire, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. No one was harm.

In a press release reported on Tuesday by the Lincoln Journal Star, which said it was unable to confirm the group’s authenticity, Jane’s Revenge said it launched the assault because of the organization’s anti-abortion stance, and demanded that related establishments across the US disband or face “more and more extreme tactics”.

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

The Madison assault came days after the leaking of a supreme courtroom draft ruling that would overturn its 1973 Roe v Wade choice and finish almost half a century of constitutional abortion protections.

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

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

It urged anyone with related info to make contact, saying: “We take all information and suggestions associated 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 attack of a pro-life advocacy workplace in Madison”.

The Madison police chief, Shon Barnes, mentioned no suspects had to this point been identified. Authorities have been expected to provide an extra replace on Tuesday afternoon.

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

“We help the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception by natural death. This includes opposing laws that promotes the destruction of human life – which starts at conception – by means 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 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 known as the attack “a horrible incident”.

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

An attack on an anti-abortion workplace is a relative rarity compared with attacks 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 have been among more than 300 acts of maximum violence recorded by the Rand Corporation between 1973 and 2003, and in one of the crucial heinous incidents, in 2009, Dr George Tiller, a Kansas abortion supplier, was shot lifeless in a church in Wichita.

In March, MS journal reported that the variety of brick-and-mortar abortion clinics nationwide had dropped precipitously, partly due to the constant risk of violence against personnel. Six states, MS stated, had just one abortion provider, largely small, independent operators who have been thought-about most in danger.

“Abortion clinics have been closing at an alarming price,” the article stated. “Impartial suppliers are essentially the most vulnerable to anti-abortion assaults and violence directed at their workers.”