Professional-choice group claims arson assault on Wisconsin anti-abortion office | 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 Household Motion in Madison was attacked within the early hours of Sunday, with a molotov cocktail thrown via 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 mentioned it was unable to verify the group’s authenticity, Jane’s Revenge said it launched the assault due to the group’s anti-abortion stance, and demanded that similar establishments across the US disband or face “more and more excessive techniques”.

“Wisconsin is the primary flashpoint, however we're all around the US, and we will issue no further warnings,” the assertion stated, citing the violence of anti-choice teams 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 may overturn its 1973 Roe v Wade choice 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 brokers were aware of the group’s claims of responsibility, but cited the continued investigation for being unable to provide more details.

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

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

At a press conference on Monday afternoon, the Madison PD and ATF agents announced a joint investigation into what it known 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 up to now been identified. Authorities were anticipated to provide an extra replace on Tuesday afternoon.

In a values assertion on its website, Wisconsin Household Motion (WFA) describes itself as a Judeo-Christian group dedicated to “strengthening, preserving, and selling marriage, family, life and liberty.

“We support the sanctity of human life from the second of conception via natural dying. This includes 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 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 much stronger message of condemnation of this activity from our Governor [and] from local law enforcement,” he wrote.

At a press convention on Monday, Evers known as the assault “a horrible incident”.

Calling for a full investigation and arrests, he added: “Because 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 in contrast 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 extreme violence recorded by the Rand Corporation between 1973 and 2003, and in probably the most heinous incidents, in 2009, Dr George Tiller, a Kansas abortion supplier, was shot dead 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 fixed menace of violence towards personnel. Six states, MS mentioned, had just one abortion supplier, mostly small, independent operators who have been thought-about most at risk.

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