Pro-choice group claims arson attack 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 office in Wisconsin.

The headquarters of Wisconsin Household Motion in Madison was attacked within the early hours of Sunday, with a molotov cocktail thrown by means of a window, beginning a small hearth, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. Nobody was harm.

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 attack due to the organization’s anti-abortion stance, and demanded that similar establishments across the US disband or face “increasingly excessive ways”.

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

The Madison assault got here days after the leaking of a supreme courtroom draft ruling that may 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) advised the Guardian that its agents had been aware of the group’s claims of accountability, but cited the ongoing investigation for being unable to give more details.

The Madison police department mentioned it was “conscious of a group claiming accountability for the arson at Wisconsin Family Motion and are working with our federal partners to determine the veracity of that declare”.

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

At a press conference 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 attack of a pro-life advocacy office in Madison”.

The Madison police chief, Shon Barnes, stated no suspects had so far been recognized. Authorities had been anticipated to offer an extra replace on Tuesday afternoon.

In a values assertion 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 assist the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception by means of natural demise. This includes opposing legislation that promotes the destruction of human life – which begins at conception – by means of 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 need to see a a lot stronger message of condemnation of this exercise from our Governor [and] from native legislation enforcement,” he wrote.

At a press convention on Monday, Evers known as the attack “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 right 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 services.

Arson, bombings, murders and acid attacks were among greater than 300 acts of maximum violence recorded by the Rand Company between 1973 and 2003, and in one of the crucial heinous incidents, in 2009, Dr George Tiller, a Kansas abortion supplier, was shot useless in a church in Wichita.

In March, MS journal reported that the number of brick-and-mortar abortion clinics nationwide had dropped precipitously, partly due to the constant risk of violence towards personnel. Six states, MS stated, had only one abortion provider, mostly small, unbiased operators who were considered most at risk.

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