Pro-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 assault on an anti-abortion workplace in Wisconsin.

The headquarters of Wisconsin Household Motion in Madison was attacked in the early hours of Sunday, with a molotov cocktail thrown by way of a window, starting a small fireplace, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. No one was harm.

In an announcement 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 assault because of the organization’s anti-abortion stance, and demanded that comparable establishments throughout the US disband or face “more and more extreme tactics”.

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

The Madison attack came days after the leaking of a supreme court 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) advised the Guardian that its brokers had been aware of the group’s claims of responsibility, but cited the continuing investigation for being unable to present more details.

The Madison police department said it was “aware of a gaggle claiming accountability for the arson at Wisconsin Family Motion and are working with our federal partners to find out the veracity of that declare”.

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

At a press convention 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 office in Madison”.

The Madison police chief, Shon Barnes, said no suspects had to this point been identified. Authorities were expected to give an extra 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 via natural death. This contains opposing legislation 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 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 regulation enforcement,” he wrote.

At a press conference 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 settle for that kind of violence here.”

An attack on an anti-abortion workplace is a relative rarity compared 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 facilities.

Arson, bombings, murders and acid assaults were amongst more than 300 acts of extreme violence recorded by the Rand Company between 1973 and 2003, and in one of the vital 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 because of the fixed risk of violence towards personnel. Six states, MS mentioned, had only one abortion supplier, principally small, unbiased operators who have been thought of most at risk.

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