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

Federal agents and detectives from the Madison police division 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 Action in Madison was attacked in the early hours of Sunday, with a molotov cocktail thrown by a window, starting a small hearth, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. No one was hurt.

In an announcement reported on Tuesday by the Lincoln Journal Star, which mentioned it was unable to confirm the group’s authenticity, Jane’s Revenge stated it launched the assault because of the group’s anti-abortion stance, and demanded that comparable establishments throughout the US disband or face “more and more excessive ways”.

“Wisconsin is the first flashpoint, however we're everywhere in the US, and we will concern no further warnings,” the statement stated, citing the violence of anti-choice teams who “bomb [abortion] clinics and assassinate medical doctors with impunity” as justification.

The Madison assault came days after the leaking of a supreme court docket draft ruling that will overturn its 1973 Roe v Wade decision and end nearly half a century of constitutional abortion protections.

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) informed the Guardian that its brokers were aware of the group’s claims of duty, but cited the continued investigation for being unable to present more particulars.

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

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

At a press convention on Monday afternoon, the Madison PD and ATF brokers introduced a joint investigation into what it called 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 thus far been identified. Authorities had been anticipated to present an extra replace on Tuesday afternoon.

In a values assertion on its web site, Wisconsin Household Action (WFA) describes itself as a Judeo-Christian group dedicated to “strengthening, preserving, and promoting marriage, household, life and liberty.

“We help the sanctity of human life from the second of conception by way of pure dying. This includes opposing legislation that promotes the destruction of human life – which begins at conception – by way of 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 need to see a much stronger message of condemnation of this activity from our Governor [and] from local legislation enforcement,” he wrote.

At a press conference 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 accept that sort of violence here.”

An attack on an anti-abortion office 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 amenities.

Arson, bombings, murders and acid attacks were among greater than 300 acts of extreme violence recorded by the Rand Corporation between 1973 and 2003, and in one of the crucial heinous incidents, in 2009, Dr George Tiller, a Kansas abortion provider, 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 because of the constant threat of violence in opposition to personnel. Six states, MS said, had just one abortion provider, mostly small, impartial operators who had been thought of most in danger.

“Abortion clinics have been closing at an alarming charge,” the article said. “Impartial providers are probably the most vulnerable to anti-abortion assaults and violence directed at their staff.”