Professional-choice group claims arson assault on Wisconsin anti-abortion office | Wisconsin

Federal brokers and detectives from the Madison police department are investigating a declare by a pro-choice group that it was behind a weekend arson assault on an anti-abortion workplace in Wisconsin.

The headquarters of Wisconsin Family Motion in Madison was attacked within the early hours of Sunday, with a molotov cocktail thrown by way of a window, beginning a small fireplace, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. No person was hurt.

In a press release reported on Tuesday by the Lincoln Journal Star, which stated it was unable to verify the group’s authenticity, Jane’s Revenge mentioned it launched the attack due to the organization’s anti-abortion stance, and demanded that similar institutions across the US disband or face “increasingly extreme tactics”.

“Wisconsin is the first flashpoint, however we're all around the US, and we are going to concern 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 attack got here days after the leaking of a supreme courtroom draft ruling that will overturn its 1973 Roe v Wade determination 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) told the Guardian that its brokers were conscious of the group’s claims of responsibility, however cited the ongoing investigation for being unable to give extra details.

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

It urged anyone with related information to make contact, saying: “We take all info and ideas associated 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 brokers announced a joint investigation into what it called 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 so far been recognized. Authorities were expected to provide an additional update on Tuesday afternoon.

In a values assertion on its web site, Wisconsin Family Motion (WFA) describes itself as a Judeo-Christian group devoted to “strengthening, preserving, and promoting marriage, family, life and liberty.

“We help the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception by means of natural demise. This consists of opposing legislation that promotes the destruction of human life – which begins at conception – through 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 exercise from our Governor [and] from local legislation enforcement,” he wrote.

At a press conference on Monday, Evers called 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 sort of violence here.”

An assault 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 amenities.

Arson, bombings, murders and acid attacks were amongst 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 provider, 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 menace of violence in opposition to personnel. Six states, MS stated, had just one abortion provider, principally small, unbiased operators who have been considered most at risk.

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