Pro-choice group claims arson attack on Wisconsin anti-abortion workplace | 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 Household Action in Madison was attacked in the early hours of Sunday, with a molotov cocktail thrown via a window, beginning a small fireplace, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. Nobody was hurt.

In an announcement 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 assault due to the organization’s anti-abortion stance, and demanded that related establishments across the US disband or face “increasingly excessive techniques”.

“Wisconsin is the first flashpoint, but we are everywhere in the US, and we will challenge no additional warnings,” the statement mentioned, citing the violence of anti-choice teams who “bomb [abortion] clinics and assassinate docs with impunity” as justification.

The Madison attack came days after the leaking of a supreme court docket draft ruling that may overturn its 1973 Roe v Wade decision and finish 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 agents had been conscious of the group’s claims of responsibility, however cited the continued investigation for being unable to provide extra details.

The Madison police division stated it was “aware of a bunch claiming duty for the arson at Wisconsin Household Action and are working with our federal partners to determine the veracity of that declare”.

It urged anybody with relevant information to make contact, saying: “We take all data and ideas associated to this case critically 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 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 thus far been identified. Authorities have been anticipated to give an extra update on Tuesday afternoon.

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

“We assist the sanctity of human life from the second of conception via pure dying. This contains opposing laws that promotes the destruction of human life – which starts at conception – via abortion and different 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 have to see a much 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: “As the state of Wisconsin, we don’t accept that type of violence right here.”

An assault on an anti-abortion office is a relative rarity compared 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 facilities.

Arson, bombings, murders and acid assaults were among more than 300 acts of extreme violence recorded by the Rand Corporation between 1973 and 2003, and in some of the heinous incidents, in 2009, Dr George Tiller, a Kansas abortion supplier, was shot lifeless 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 menace of violence towards personnel. Six states, MS said, had only one abortion supplier, largely small, impartial operators who were thought of most in danger.

“Abortion clinics have been closing at an alarming rate,” the article stated. “Unbiased providers are probably the most weak to anti-abortion assaults and violence directed at their workers.”