Pro-choice group claims arson attack on Wisconsin anti-abortion workplace | 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 by means of a window, beginning a small fireplace, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. No person was damage.

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 said it launched the assault due to the group’s anti-abortion stance, and demanded that similar institutions across the US disband or face “more and more extreme techniques”.

“Wisconsin is the primary flashpoint, however we're all around the US, and we are going to subject no further warnings,” the assertion said, citing the violence of anti-choice groups who “bomb [abortion] clinics and assassinate docs with impunity” as justification.

The Madison assault got here days after the leaking of a supreme court draft ruling that would overturn its 1973 Roe v Wade resolution and end almost half a century of constitutional abortion protections.

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) informed the Guardian that its brokers were aware of the group’s claims of duty, however cited the ongoing investigation for being unable to provide extra details.

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

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

At a press convention on Monday afternoon, the Madison PD and ATF agents introduced 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, mentioned no suspects had so far been identified. Authorities have been expected to give an extra update on Tuesday afternoon.

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

“We support the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception via natural demise. This includes opposing legislation that promotes the destruction of human life – which begins at conception – via abortion and different 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 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: “As the state of Wisconsin, we don’t settle for that kind of violence here.”

An attack on an anti-abortion office 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 services.

Arson, bombings, murders and acid assaults had been amongst greater than 300 acts of maximum violence recorded by the Rand Company between 1973 and 2003, and in some of the 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 due to the constant risk of violence towards personnel. Six states, MS stated, had just one abortion provider, largely small, unbiased operators who were thought of most in danger.

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