Pro-choice group claims arson assault on Wisconsin anti-abortion workplace | Wisconsin

Federal agents 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 Family Motion in Madison was attacked in the early hours of Sunday, with a molotov cocktail thrown by means of a window, starting a small fireplace, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. Nobody was harm.

In an announcement reported on Tuesday by the Lincoln Journal Star, which stated it was unable to verify the group’s authenticity, Jane’s Revenge stated it launched the assault due to the group’s anti-abortion stance, and demanded that related institutions across the US disband or face “increasingly excessive techniques”.

“Wisconsin is the first flashpoint, but we are all around the US, and we are going to situation no further warnings,” the statement said, 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 court docket draft ruling that would 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 aware of the group’s claims of responsibility, but cited the ongoing investigation for being unable to provide more particulars.

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

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

At a press conference on Monday afternoon, the Madison PD and ATF brokers introduced a joint investigation into what it referred to as an “abortion extremism case involving an arson and graffiti assault 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 anticipated to offer an additional replace on Tuesday afternoon.

In a values assertion 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 by natural loss of life. This contains opposing laws that promotes the destruction of human life – which starts at conception – via 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 need to see a a lot stronger message of condemnation of this activity from our Governor [and] from native regulation enforcement,” he wrote.

At a press conference on Monday, Evers referred to 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 here.”

An attack on an anti-abortion workplace is a relative rarity compared with attacks 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 have been among more than 300 acts of maximum 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 supplier, was shot lifeless in a church in Wichita.

In March, MS magazine reported that the variety of brick-and-mortar abortion clinics nationwide had dropped precipitously, partly due to the constant menace of violence in opposition to personnel. Six states, MS mentioned, had just one abortion provider, mostly small, independent operators who had been thought of most in danger.

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