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

Federal agents 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 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 a window, starting a small fire, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. No person 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 attack because of the group’s anti-abortion stance, and demanded that similar establishments throughout the US disband or face “more and more excessive tactics”.

“Wisconsin is the first flashpoint, but we are everywhere in the US, and we are going to subject no further warnings,” the statement stated, citing the violence of anti-choice teams who “bomb [abortion] clinics and assassinate docs with impunity” as justification.

The Madison attack came days after the leaking of a supreme court docket draft ruling that may overturn its 1973 Roe v Wade resolution 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) advised the Guardian that its brokers were aware of the group’s claims of duty, but cited the continued investigation for being unable to offer more particulars.

The Madison police division said it was “aware of a bunch claiming responsibility for the arson at Wisconsin Family Motion and are working with our federal partners to determine the veracity of that claim”.

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

At a press convention on Monday afternoon, the Madison PD and ATF agents introduced a joint investigation into what it referred to 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 date been recognized. Authorities have been anticipated to offer an extra update on Tuesday afternoon.

In a values assertion on its web site, Wisconsin Family Action (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 moment of conception via natural death. This includes opposing legislation that promotes the destruction of human life – which starts at conception – by way of abortion and other 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 a lot stronger message of condemnation of this exercise from our Governor [and] from local legislation 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: “As the state of Wisconsin, we don’t settle for that kind of violence right 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 attacks were amongst greater than 300 acts of utmost 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 useless in a church in Wichita.

In March, MS magazine reported that the number 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 said, had just one abortion provider, mostly small, impartial operators who were thought-about most in danger.

“Abortion clinics have been closing at an alarming charge,” the article mentioned. “Independent suppliers are probably the most susceptible to anti-abortion attacks and violence directed at their workers.”