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

Federal brokers and detectives from the Madison police division are investigating a claim by a pro-choice group that it was behind a weekend arson assault 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 way of a window, beginning a small fire, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. No person was damage.

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

“Wisconsin is the first flashpoint, however we're all around the US, and we'll concern no additional warnings,” the assertion mentioned, citing the violence of anti-choice teams who “bomb [abortion] clinics and assassinate doctors with impunity” as justification.

The Madison attack got here days after the leaking of a supreme courtroom draft ruling that might overturn its 1973 Roe v Wade determination 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 agents were conscious of the group’s claims of responsibility, however cited the ongoing investigation for being unable to present extra particulars.

The Madison police department stated it was “conscious of a group claiming responsibility for the arson at Wisconsin Family Motion and are working with our federal companions to find out the veracity of that claim”.

It urged anyone with relevant information to make contact, saying: “We take all information and suggestions associated to this case critically and are working to vet each one.”

At a press conference on Monday afternoon, the Madison PD and ATF agents introduced 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 up to now been recognized. Authorities have been expected to give an additional update 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, family, life and liberty.

“We help the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception through pure dying. This consists of opposing laws that promotes the destruction of human life – which begins at conception – by abortion and other 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 exercise from our Governor [and] from native 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 settle for that sort of violence here.”

An attack on an anti-abortion office is a relative rarity in contrast 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 had been among greater than 300 acts of maximum violence recorded by the Rand Corporation between 1973 and 2003, and in one 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 due to the fixed threat of violence towards personnel. Six states, MS stated, had only one abortion supplier, principally small, impartial operators who were considered most at risk.

“Abortion clinics have been closing at an alarming charge,” the article said. “Unbiased providers are essentially the most susceptible to anti-abortion attacks and violence directed at their employees.”