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

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

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

“Wisconsin is the primary flashpoint, however we are all around the US, and we are going to concern no additional warnings,” the assertion mentioned, citing the violence of anti-choice groups who “bomb [abortion] clinics and assassinate doctors with impunity” as justification.

The Madison attack got here days after the leaking of a supreme courtroom draft ruling that would overturn its 1973 Roe v Wade choice and finish 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 agents were conscious of the group’s claims of responsibility, but cited the continued investigation for being unable to offer extra details.

The Madison police division stated it was “aware of a bunch claiming duty for the arson at Wisconsin Household Motion and are working with our federal companions to determine the veracity of that declare”.

It urged anyone with relevant info to make contact, saying: “We take all information and tips related to this case critically and are working to vet 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 office in Madison”.

The Madison police chief, Shon Barnes, said no suspects had to this point been recognized. Authorities had been expected to offer an additional replace on Tuesday afternoon.

In a values statement on its website, 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 natural loss of life. This contains opposing legislation that promotes the destruction of human life – which starts at conception – via 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 have to see a much 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 assault “a horrible incident”.

Calling for a full investigation and arrests, he added: “As the state of Wisconsin, we don’t settle for 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 attacks were among more than 300 acts of maximum violence recorded by the Rand Company between 1973 and 2003, and in probably the most heinous incidents, in 2009, Dr George Tiller, a Kansas abortion supplier, 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 towards personnel. Six states, MS stated, had just one abortion supplier, mostly small, impartial operators who had been considered most at risk.

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