Pro-choice group claims arson attack on Wisconsin anti-abortion workplace | Wisconsin

Federal agents 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 workplace in Wisconsin.

The headquarters of Wisconsin Family Action in Madison was attacked within the early hours of Sunday, with a molotov cocktail thrown by a window, beginning a small hearth, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. Nobody 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 because of 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, however we are all over the US, and we are going to issue no further warnings,” the statement said, citing the violence of anti-choice teams who “bomb [abortion] clinics and assassinate medical doctors with impunity” as justification.

The Madison attack got here days after the leaking of a supreme court docket draft ruling that might 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) instructed the Guardian that its brokers had been conscious of the group’s claims of accountability, however cited the continuing investigation for being unable to offer more details.

The Madison police division stated it was “aware of a gaggle claiming responsibility 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 relevant data to make contact, saying: “We take all info and suggestions related to this case seriously and are working to vet every one.”

At a press convention 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 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 present an additional update on Tuesday afternoon.

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

“We assist the sanctity of human life from the second of conception by way of natural dying. This contains 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 regulation enforcement,” he wrote.

At a press convention 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 right here.”

An assault 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 amenities.

Arson, bombings, murders and acid attacks were amongst greater than 300 acts of extreme 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 menace of violence against personnel. Six states, MS mentioned, had only one abortion supplier, largely small, impartial operators who have been thought-about most at risk.

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