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

Federal brokers and detectives from the Madison police department are investigating a claim 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 means of a window, beginning a small fireplace, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. Nobody was hurt.

In a press release reported on Tuesday by the Lincoln Journal Star, which stated it was unable to confirm the group’s authenticity, Jane’s Revenge stated it launched the attack due to the group’s anti-abortion stance, and demanded that comparable institutions across the US disband or face “more and more excessive ways”.

“Wisconsin is the primary flashpoint, but we are all around the US, and we are going to subject no additional warnings,” the statement mentioned, citing the violence of anti-choice groups who “bomb [abortion] clinics and assassinate medical doctors with impunity” as justification.

The Madison attack got here days after the leaking of a supreme courtroom draft ruling that would overturn its 1973 Roe v Wade choice and finish nearly 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 agents were conscious of the group’s claims of accountability, however cited the continued investigation for being unable to provide extra details.

The Madison police division said it was “aware of a gaggle claiming responsibility for the arson at Wisconsin Household Motion and are working with our federal partners to find out the veracity of that claim”.

It urged anyone with relevant data to make contact, saying: “We take all data and ideas associated to this case significantly and are working to vet each and every one.”

At a press conference on Monday afternoon, the Madison PD and ATF agents introduced 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 so far been recognized. Authorities had been expected to present an additional replace 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, family, life and liberty.

“We assist the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception by way of natural loss of life. This includes opposing laws that promotes the destruction of human life – which begins at conception – by way of 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 have to see a much stronger message of condemnation of this exercise from our Governor [and] from native law enforcement,” he wrote.

At a press convention 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 type of violence right here.”

An assault on an anti-abortion workplace is a relative rarity in contrast with assaults on abortion clinics and suppliers. 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 assaults have been among more than 300 acts of utmost violence recorded by the Rand Company between 1973 and 2003, and in one of the most heinous incidents, in 2009, Dr George Tiller, a Kansas abortion supplier, was shot lifeless in a church in Wichita.

In March, MS journal reported that the number of brick-and-mortar abortion clinics nationwide had dropped precipitously, partly because of the fixed menace of violence in opposition to personnel. Six states, MS stated, had just one abortion supplier, largely small, impartial operators who have been considered most at risk.

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