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

Federal brokers and detectives from the Madison police division are investigating a declare 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 in the early hours of Sunday, with a molotov cocktail thrown by way of a window, starting a small fire, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. Nobody was harm.

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

“Wisconsin is the primary flashpoint, however we are everywhere in the US, and we will subject no further warnings,” the assertion stated, citing the violence of anti-choice groups who “bomb [abortion] clinics and assassinate docs with impunity” as justification.

The Madison assault came days after the leaking of a supreme court docket draft ruling that may 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 brokers were aware of the group’s claims of duty, but cited the continued investigation for being unable to offer extra details.

The Madison police division stated it was “aware of a group claiming accountability for the arson at Wisconsin Family Action and are working with our federal partners to determine the veracity of that claim”.

It urged anyone with related information to make contact, saying: “We take all info and tips related to this case critically 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 referred to 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, mentioned no suspects had so far been recognized. Authorities were expected to give an additional replace on Tuesday afternoon.

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

“We support the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception by natural dying. This contains opposing legislation that promotes the destruction of human life – which starts at conception – by 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 have to see a a lot 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 assault on an anti-abortion office is a relative rarity in contrast with assaults on abortion clinics and providers. 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 attacks were amongst more than 300 acts of extreme violence recorded by the Rand Company between 1973 and 2003, and in one of the most heinous incidents, in 2009, Dr George Tiller, a Kansas abortion provider, was shot dead 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 fixed menace of violence against personnel. Six states, MS mentioned, had just one abortion provider, mostly small, impartial operators who have been thought of most at risk.

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