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

Federal brokers 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 office in Wisconsin.

The headquarters of Wisconsin Household Action in Madison was attacked within the early hours of Sunday, with a molotov cocktail thrown through a window, beginning a small fire, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. Nobody was hurt.

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

“Wisconsin is the primary flashpoint, however we are all over the US, and we will problem no further warnings,” the assertion mentioned, citing the violence of anti-choice teams who “bomb [abortion] clinics and assassinate medical doctors with impunity” as justification.

The Madison attack got here days after the leaking of a supreme court draft ruling that would 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) instructed the Guardian that its brokers had been aware of the group’s claims of responsibility, however cited the continuing investigation for being unable to present extra particulars.

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

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

At a press convention on Monday afternoon, the Madison PD and ATF agents 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, stated no suspects had to date been recognized. Authorities have been anticipated to present an additional replace on Tuesday afternoon.

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

“We support the sanctity of human life from the second of conception through natural loss of life. This includes opposing legislation 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 exercise from our Governor [and] from local regulation enforcement,” he wrote.

At a press conference on Monday, Evers known 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 kind of violence here.”

An attack on an anti-abortion office is a relative rarity in contrast 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 amenities.

Arson, bombings, murders and acid assaults were amongst greater than 300 acts of maximum violence recorded by the Rand Corporation between 1973 and 2003, and in some of the heinous incidents, in 2009, Dr George Tiller, a Kansas abortion provider, was shot lifeless 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 constant threat of violence against personnel. Six states, MS mentioned, had only one abortion supplier, largely small, independent operators who had been thought of most at risk.

“Abortion clinics have been closing at an alarming charge,” the article stated. “Impartial providers are essentially the most weak to anti-abortion assaults and violence directed at their workers.”