Pro-choice group claims arson assault on Wisconsin anti-abortion office | 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 Action in Madison was attacked within the early hours of Sunday, with a molotov cocktail thrown via a window, starting a small hearth, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. No one was harm.

In a press release reported on Tuesday by the Lincoln Journal Star, which said 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 similar establishments throughout the US disband or face “more and more excessive tactics”.

“Wisconsin is the primary flashpoint, but we are all over the US, and we'll difficulty no further warnings,” the statement said, citing the violence of anti-choice groups who “bomb [abortion] clinics and assassinate docs with impunity” as justification.

The Madison assault came days after the leaking of a supreme courtroom draft ruling that will overturn its 1973 Roe v Wade decision and end virtually 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 have been conscious of the group’s claims of accountability, but cited the ongoing investigation for being unable to offer more particulars.

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

It urged anybody with relevant info to make contact, saying: “We take all information and suggestions related to this case severely 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 attack of a pro-life advocacy office in Madison”.

The Madison police chief, Shon Barnes, said no suspects had to this point been identified. Authorities had been anticipated to give an extra update 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 selling marriage, household, life and liberty.

“We help the sanctity of human life from the second of conception by natural dying. This includes opposing legislation that promotes the destruction of human life – which begins at conception – by way of abortion and other 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 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: “Because the state of Wisconsin, we don’t settle for that type of violence right here.”

An attack on an anti-abortion workplace 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 facilities.

Arson, bombings, murders and acid attacks were among greater than 300 acts of utmost 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 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 only one abortion provider, largely small, independent operators who have been considered most in danger.

“Abortion clinics have been closing at an alarming price,” the article said. “Unbiased providers are essentially the most susceptible to anti-abortion assaults and violence directed at their employees.”